CA 06 - Find the Maximum and Minimum Element in the Array

Problem
Min and Max in Array
You are given an array arr[] of integers.
Your task is to find the minimum and maximum elements in the array.

• Input: [1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 6] → Output: [1, 8]
• Input: [12, 3, 15, 7, 9] → Output: [3, 15]

Approach

We can solve this by scanning the array once and keeping track of two values:

• min_val → stores the smallest element
• max_val → stores the largest element

Steps:

• Initialize both min_val and max_val with the first element

• Traverse the array:

  • Update min_val if a smaller element is found
  • Update max_val if a larger element is found

This way, we find both values in a single pass.

Complexity:

• Time Complexity: O(n)
• Space Complexity: O(1)

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Code

def findMinMax(arr):
    min_val = arr[0]
    max_val = arr[0]

    for num in arr:
        if num < min_val:
            min_val = num
        if num > max_val:
            max_val = num

    return [min_val, max_val]
arr = [1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 6]
print(findMinMax(arr))