Find the Smallest and Largest Element in an Array

Understanding Smallest and Largest Element

Finding the smallest and largest element in an array involves scanning the array and keeping track of the minimum and maximum values encountered.

We will explore three different methods to find the smallest and largest element in an array using Python.

Method 1: Using Iteration

This method iterates through the array and finds the smallest and largest elements.

def find_min_max(arr):
    smallest, largest = arr[0], arr[0]
    for num in arr[1:]:
        if num < smallest:
            smallest = num
        if num > largest:
            largest = num
    return smallest, largest

arr = [10, 20, 4, 45, 99, 23]
smallest, largest = find_min_max(arr)
print("Smallest element:", smallest)
print("Largest element:", largest)
            

Method 2: Using Sorting

This method sorts the array and takes the first and last elements as the smallest and largest, respectively.

def find_min_max_sorted(arr):
    arr.sort()
    return arr[0], arr[-1]

arr = [10, 20, 4, 45, 99, 23]
smallest, largest = find_min_max_sorted(arr)
print("Smallest element:", smallest)
print("Largest element:", largest)
            

Method 3: Using Recursion

This method finds the smallest and largest element using recursion.

def find_min_max_recursive(arr, n, min_max):
    if n == 1:
        min_max[0] = min_max[1] = arr[0]
        return
    find_min_max_recursive(arr, n - 1, min_max)
    min_max[0] = min(min_max[0], arr[n - 1])
    min_max[1] = max(min_max[1], arr[n - 1])

arr = [10, 20, 4, 45, 99, 23]
min_max = [float('inf'), float('-inf')]
find_min_max_recursive(arr, len(arr), min_max)
print("Smallest element:", min_max[0])
print("Largest element:", min_max[1])