C program to find the maximum and minimum element of the array

Given an array arr[] of N integers, the task is to write the C program to find the maximum and minimum element of the given array iteratively and recursively. Examples:

Input: arr[] = {1, 2, 4, -1} Output: The minimum element is -1 The maximum element is 4 Input: arr[] = {-1, -1, -1, -1} Output: The minimum element is -1 The maximum element is -1

Approach:

1. Let maxE and minE be the variable to store the minimum and maximum element of the array.
2. Initialise minE as INT_MAX and maxE as INT_MIN.
3. Traverse the given array arr[].
4. If the current element is smaller than minE, then update the minE as current element.
5. If the current element is greater than maxE, then update the maxE as current element.
6. Repeat the above two steps for the element in the array.

Iterative approach

Below is the implementation of the Iterative approach: 

C

// C program for the above approach
#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>

// Function to find the minimum and
// maximum element of the array
void findMinimumMaximum(int arr[], int N)
{
    int i;

    // variable to store the minimum
    // and maximum element
    int minE = INT_MAX, maxE = INT_MIN;

    // Traverse the given array
    for (i = 0; i < N; i++) {

        // If current element is smaller
        // than minE then update it
        if (arr[i] < minE) {
            minE = arr[i];
        }

        // If current element is greater
        // than maxE then update it
        if (arr[i] > maxE) {
            maxE = arr[i];
        }
    }

    // Print the minimum and maximum element
    printf("The minimum element is %d", minE);
    printf("\n");
    printf("The maximum element is %d", maxE);

    return;
}

// Driver Code
int main()
{

    // Given array
    int arr[] = { 1, 2, 4, -1 };

    // length of the array
    int N = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);

    // Function call
    findMinimumMaximum(arr, N);

    return 0;
}

Output:

The minimum element is -1
The maximum element is 4

Recursive approach

Below is the implementation of the Recursive approach: 

C

// C program for the above approach
#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>

// Recursive function to find the minimum
// and the maximum element of the array
void recursiveMinMax(int arr[], int N, int* minE, int* maxE)
{
    // Base Case
    if (N < 0) {
        return;
    }

    // If current element is smaller
    // than minE then update it
    if (arr[N] < *minE) {
        *minE = arr[N];
    }

    // If current element is greater
    // than maxE then update it
    if (arr[N] > *maxE) {
        *maxE = arr[N];
    }

    // Recursive call for next iteration
    recursiveMinMax(arr, N - 1, minE, maxE);
}

// Function to find the minimum and
// maximum element of the array
void findMinimumMaximum(int arr[], int N)
{
    int i;

    // variable to store the minimum
    // and maximum element
    int minE = INT_MAX, maxE = INT_MIN;

    // Recursive Function to find
    // minimum & maximum element
    recursiveMinMax(arr, N - 1, &minE, &maxE);

    // Print the minimum and maximum element
    printf("The minimum element is %d", minE);
    printf("\n");
    printf("The maximum element is %d", maxE);

    return;
}

// Driver Code
int main()
{

    // Given array
    int arr[] = { 1, 2, 4, -1 };

    // length of the array
    int N = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);

    // Function call
    findMinimumMaximum(arr, N);
    return 0;
}

Time Complexity: O(N), where N is the number of element in the given array.