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Program to find largest element in an Array

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Given an array arr[] of size N, the task is to find the largest element in the given array. 

Examples: 

Input: arr[] = {10, 20, 4}
Output: 20
Explanation: Among 10, 20 and 4, 20 is the largest. 

Input : arr[] = {20, 10, 20, 4, 100}
Output : 100

Recommended Practice

Iterative Approach to find the largest element of Array:

The simplest approach is to solve this problem is to traverse the whole list and find the maximum among them.

  • Create a local variable max and initiate it to arr[0] to store the maximum among the list
  • Iterate over the array
    • Compare arr[i] with max.
    • If arr[i] > max, update max = arr[i].
    • Increment i once.
  • After the iteration is over, return max as the required answer.

Below is the implementation of the above approach: 

C++




// C++ program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to find the maximum of array
int largest(int arr[], int n)
{
    int i;
 
    // Initialize maximum element
    int max = arr[0];
 
    // Traverse array elements
    // from second and compare
    // every element with current max
    for (i = 1; i < n; i++)
        if (arr[i] > max)
            max = arr[i];
 
    return max;
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    int arr[] = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
   
    // Function call
    cout << "Largest in given array is " << largest(arr, n);
    return 0;
}
 
// This Code is contributed by Shivi_Aggarwal


C




// C program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
#include <stdio.h>
 
// Function to find maximum in arr[] of size n
int largest(int arr[], int n)
{
    int i;
 
    // Initialize maximum element
    int max = arr[0];
 
    // Traverse array elements from second and
    // compare every element with current max
    for (i = 1; i < n; i++)
        if (arr[i] > max)
            max = arr[i];
 
    return max;
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    int arr[] = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
   
    // Function call
    printf("Largest in given array is %d", largest(arr, n));
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java Program to find maximum in arr[]
import java.io.*;
 
class Test {
    static int arr[] = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
 
    // Method to find maximum in arr[]
    static int largest()
    {
        int i;
 
        // Initialize maximum element
        int max = arr[0];
 
        // Traverse array elements from second and
        // compare every element with current max
        for (i = 1; i < arr.length; i++)
            if (arr[i] > max)
                max = arr[i];
 
        return max;
    }
 
    // Driver code
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        System.out.println("Largest in given array is "
                           + largest());
    }
}


Python3




# Python3 program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
 
 
# Function to find maximum in arr[] of size n
def largest(arr, n):
     
    # Initialize maximum element
    mx = arr[0]
 
    # Traverse array elements from second
    # and compare every element with
    # current max
    for i in range(1, n):
        if arr[i] > mx:
            mx = arr[i]
 
    return mx
 
 
# Driver Code
if __name__ == '__main__':
    arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808]
    n = len(arr)
     
    # Calculating length of an array
    Ans = largest(arr, n)
     
    # display max
    print("Largest in given array is", Ans)
 
 
# This code is contributed by Jai Parkash Bhardwaj
# and improved by prophet1999


C#




// C# Program to find maximum in arr[]
using System;
 
class GFG {
 
    static int[] arr = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
 
    // Method to find maximum in arr[]
    static int largest()
    {
        int i;
 
        // Initialize maximum element
        int max = arr[0];
 
        // Traverse array elements from second and
        // compare every element with current max
        for (i = 1; i < arr.Length; i++)
            if (arr[i] > max)
                max = arr[i];
 
        return max;
    }
 
    // Driver code
    public static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Largest in given "
                          + "array is " + largest());
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.


Javascript




<script>
 
// JavaScript program to find
// maximum in arr[] of size n
   
    function largest(arr) {
        let i;
       
        // Initialize maximum element
        let max = arr[0];
   
        // Traverse array elements 
        // from second and compare
        // every element with current max 
        for (i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
            if (arr[i] > max)
                max = arr[i];
        }
         
        return max;
    }
     
    // Driver code
    let arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808];
    document.write("Largest in given array is " + largest(arr));
     
 // This code is contributed by Surbhi Tyagi 
  
</script>


PHP




<?php
// PHP program to find maximum
// in arr[] of size n
 
// PHP function to find maximum
// in arr[] of size n
function largest($arr, $n)
{
    $i;
     
    // Initialize maximum element
    $max = $arr[0];
 
    // Traverse array elements
    // from second and
    // compare every element
    // with current max
    for ($i = 1; $i < $n; $i++)
        if ($arr[$i] > $max)
            $max = $arr[$i];
 
    return $max;
}  
     
// Driver Code
$arr= array(10, 324, 45, 90, 9808);
$n = sizeof($arr);
echo "Largest in given array is "
                 , largest($arr, $n);
     
// This code is contributed by aj_36
?>


Output

Largest in given array is 9808

Time complexity: O(N), to traverse the Array completely.
Auxiliary Space: O(1), as only an extra variable is created, which will take O(1) space.

Recursive Approach to find the maximum of Array:

The idea is similar to the iterative approach. Here the traversal of the array is done recursively instead of an iterative loop. 

  • Set an integer i = 0 to denote the current index being searched.
  • Check if i is the last index, return arr[i].
  • Increment i and call the recursive function for the new value of i.
  • Compare the maximum value returned from the recursion function with arr[i].
  • Return the max between these two from the current recursion call.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++




// C++ program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to find the largest element
int largest(int arr[], int n, int i)
{
    // Last index return the element
    if (i == n - 1) {
        return arr[i];
    }
 
    // Find the maximum from rest of the array
    int recMax = largest(arr, n, i + 1);
 
    // Compare with i-th element and return
    return max(recMax, arr[i]);
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    int arr[] = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
   
    // Function call
    cout << "Largest in given array is "
         << largest(arr, n, 0);
    return 0;
}
 
// This Code is contributed by Rajdeep Mallick


Java




// Java program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
import java.io.*;
 
class GFG {
 
    // Function to find the largest element
    static int largest(int arr[], int n, int i)
    {
        // Last index return the element
        if (i == n - 1) {
            return arr[i];
        }
 
        // Find the maximum from rest of the array
        int recMax = largest(arr, n, i + 1);
 
        // Compare with i-th element and return
        return Math.max(recMax, arr[i]);
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        int arr[] = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
        int n = arr.length;
       
        // Function call
        System.out.println("Largest in given array is "
                           + largest(arr, n, 0));
    }
}
 
// this code is contributed by rajdeep999


Python3




# Python program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
 
import math
 
 
# Function to find the largest element
def largest(arr,  n,  i):
    # Last index return the element
    if (i == n - 1):
        return arr[i]
 
    # Find the maximum from rest of the array
    recMax = largest(arr, n, i + 1)
 
    # Compare with i-th element and return
    return max(recMax, arr[i])
 
 
# Driver Code
if __name__ == '__main__':
    arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808]
    n = len(arr)
 
    # Function call
    print("Largest in given array is " + str(largest(arr, n, 0)))
 
 
# This code is contributed by aadityaburujwale.


C#




// C# program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
using System;
 
public class GFG {
   
    // Function to find the largest element
    public static int largest(int[] arr, int n, int i)
    {
        // Last index return the element
        if (i == n - 1) {
            return arr[i];
        }
 
        // Find the maximum from rest of the array
        var recMax = GFG.largest(arr, n, i + 1);
 
        // Compare with i-th element and return
        return Math.Max(recMax, arr[i]);
    }
 
    // Driver Code
    public static void Main(String[] args)
    {
        int[] arr = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
        var n = arr.Length;
 
        // Function call
        Console.WriteLine(
            "Largest in given array is "
            + GFG.largest(arr, n, 0).ToString());
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by aadityaburujwale.


Javascript




// JS program to find maximum
// in arr[] of size n
function largest(arr, n, i)
{
    // last index
    // return the element
    if (i == n - 1) {
        return arr[i];
    }
 
    // find the maximum from rest of the array
    let recMax = largest(arr, n, i + 1);
 
    // compare with i-th element and return
    return Math.max(recMax, arr[i]);
}
 
// Driver Code
let arr = [ 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 ];
let n = arr.length;
console.log("Largest in given array is", largest(arr, n, 0));
 
// This Code is contributed by akashish__


PHP




<?php
// PHP program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
 
// Returns maximum in arr[] of size n
function largest($arr, $n, $i)
{
    // last index
    // return the element
    if ($i == $n - 1) {
        return $arr[$i];
    }
  
    // find the maximum from rest of the array
    $recMax = largest($arr, $n, $i + 1);
  
    // compare with i-th element and return
    return max($recMax, $arr[$i]);
}
  
// Driver Code
$arr = [ 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 ];
$n = count($arr);
echo "Largest in given array is " , largest($arr, $n, 0) ;
// This code is contributed by ameyabavkar02.
?>


Output

Largest in given array is 9808

Time Complexity: O(N), where N is the size of the given array. 
Auxiliary Space: O(N), for recursive calls

Find the maximum of Array using Library Function:

Most of the languages have a relevant max() type in-built function to find the maximum element, such as  std::max_element in C++. We can use this function to directly find the maximum element.  

Below is the implementation of the above approach: 

C++




// C++ program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Returns maximum in arr[] of size n
int largest(int arr[], int n)
{
    return *max_element(arr, arr + n);
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    int arr[] = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
   
    // Function call
    cout << largest(arr, n);
    return 0;
}


Java




// Java program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
 
class GFG {
 
    // Returns maximum in arr[] of size n
    static int largest(int[] arr, int n)
    {
        Arrays.sort(arr);
        return arr[n - 1];
    }
 
    // Driver code
    static public void main(String[] args)
    {
        int[] arr = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
        int n = arr.length;
       
        // Function call
        System.out.println(largest(arr, n));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.


Python3




# Python 3 program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
 
 
# Returns maximum in arr[] of size n
def largest(arr, n):
    return max(arr)
 
 
 
# Driver code
if __name__ == '__main__':
    arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808]
    n = len(arr)
     
    # Function call
    print(largest(arr, n))
 
# This code is contributed by
# Smitha Dinesh Semwal


C#




// C# program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
using System;
using System.Linq;
 
public class GFG {
 
    // Returns maximum in arr[]
    static int Largest(int[] arr) {
        return arr.Max();
    }
 
    // Driver code
    static public void Main()
    {
        int[] arr = { 10, 324, 45, 90, 9808 };
        Console.WriteLine(Largest(arr));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.
// Minor code cleanup by shanmukha7


Javascript




<script>
 
// Javascript program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
 
// Returns maximum in arr[] of size n
function largest(arr, n)
{
    arr.sort();
    return arr[n-1];
}
 
let arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808];
let n = arr.length;
document.write(largest(arr, n));
  
 
//This code is contributed by Mayank Tyagi
 
</script>


PHP




<?php
// PHP program to find maximum in arr[] of size n
 
// Returns maximum in arr[] of size n
function largest( $arr, $n)
{
    return max($arr);
}
 
// Driver Code
$arr = array(10, 324, 45, 90, 9808);
$n = count($arr);
echo largest($arr, $n);
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.
?>


Output

9808

Time complexity: O(N), since the in-built max_element() function takes O(N) time.
Auxiliary Space: O(1), as only an extra variable is created, which will take O(1) space.

Refer below article for more methods: Program to find the minimum (or maximum) element of an array



Last Updated : 13 Sep, 2023
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