Largest of two distinct numbers without using any conditional statements or operators

Difficulty Level : Easy
Last Updated : 23 Dec, 2019

Given two positive and distinct numbers, the task is to find the greatest of two given numbers without using any conditional statements(if…) and operators(?: in C/C++/Java).

Examples:

Input: a = 14, b = 15
Output: 15

Input: a = 1233133, b = 124
Output: 1233133

The Approach is to return the value on the basis of the below expression:

a * (bool)(a / b) + b * (bool)(b / a)

The expression a / b will give 1 if a > b and 0 if a < b (only after typecasting the result to bool).
Hence, the answer will be of the form either a + 0 or 0 + b depending upon which one is greater.

C++

// C++ program for above implementation 
#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
  
// Function to find the largest number 
int largestNum(int a, int b) 
{ 
    return a * (bool)(a / b) + b * (bool)(b / a); 
} 
  
// Drivers code 
int main() 
{ 
    int a = 22, b = 1231; 
    cout << largestNum(a, b); 
  
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// Java program for above implementation 
class GFG  
{ 
  
    // Function to find the largest number 
    static int largestNum(int a, int b)  
    { 
        return a * ((a / b) > 0 ? 1 : 0) + b * ((b / a) > 0 ? 1 : 0); 
    } 
  
    // Drivers code 
    public static void main(String[] args)  
    { 
        int a = 22, b = 1231; 
        System.out.print(largestNum(a, b)); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar 

Python3

# Function to find the largest number 
def largestNum(a, b): 
    return a * (bool)(a // b) + \ 
           b * (bool)(b // a); 
  
# Driver Code 
a = 22; 
b = 1231; 
print(largestNum(a, b)); 
  
# This code is contributed by Rajput-Ji 

C#

      
// C# program for above implementation 
using System; 
  
class GFG  
{ 
  
    // Function to find the largest number 
    static int largestNum(int a, int b)  
    { 
        return a * ((a / b) > 0 ? 1 : 0) + b * ((b / a) > 0 ? 1 : 0); 
    } 
  
    // Driver code 
    public static void Main(String[] args)  
    { 
        int a = 22, b = 1231; 
        Console.Write(largestNum(a, b)); 
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed by Rajput-Ji 

PHP

<?php 
// PHP program for above implementation 
  
// Function to find the largest number 
function largestNum($a, $b) 
{ 
    return ($a * (boolean)floor(($a / $b))) +  
           ($b * (boolean)floor(($b / $a))); 
} 
  
// Drivers code 
$a = 22; $b = 1231; 
echo(largestNum($a, $b)); 
  
// This code is contributed 
// by Mukul Singh 

Output:

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