Finding Minimum and Maximum in an Array

Source: Dev.to

Problem Statement

Given an array of numbers, we need to find the smallest (minimum) and largest (maximum) elements.

Example

Input: [1, 4, 3, 5, 8, 6]

Output: [1, 8]

Approach

Use Python’s built‑in functions:

• min() to find the smallest element
• max() to find the largest element

This approach is simple and efficient.

Code

def find_min_max(arr):
    return [min(arr), max(arr)]

Explanation

The function takes an array as input and returns a list containing the minimum and maximum values using the built‑in min and max functions.

Time Complexity

O(n) – each element is examined once to determine the minimum and maximum.