Explanation on Integer.MAX_VALUE and Integer.MIN_VALUE to find min and max value in an array

Question

I don't seem to understand how Integer.MAX_VALUE and Integer.MIN_VALUE help in finding the min and max value in an array.

I understand how this method (pseudocode below) works when finding the min and max values:

max = A[0], min = A[0] for each i in A   if A[i] > max then max = A[i]   if A[i] < min then min = A[i]  

But as for this method, I don't understand the purpose of Integer.MAX_VALUE and Integer.MIN_VALUE:

import java.util.Scanner;  class MyClass {      public static void main(String[] args) {          int[] numbers; // declaring the data type of numbers         numbers = new int[3]; //assigning the number of values numbers will contain         int smallest = Integer.MAX_VALUE, largest = Integer.MIN_VALUE;          Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);          System.out.println("Please enter 3 numbers");          for(int counter = 0; counter<numbers.length;counter++) {             numbers[counter] = input.nextInt();         }          for(int i = 0; i<numbers.length; i++) {             if(numbers[i]<smallest)                 smallest = numbers[i];             else if(numbers[i]>largest)                 largest = numbers[i];         }          System.out.println("Largest is "+largest);         System.out.println("Smallest is "+smallest);     }  } 

• System.out.println(Integer.MAX_VALUE) gives 2147483647
• System.out.println(Integer.MIN_VALUE) gives -2147483648

So what purpose do Integer.MIN_VALUE and Integer.MIN_VALUE serve in the comparisons?

Answer 1

but as for this method, I don't understand the purpose of Integer.MAX_VALUE and Integer.MIN_VALUE.

By starting out with smallest set to Integer.MAX_VALUE and largest set to Integer.MIN_VALUE, they don't have to worry later about the special case where smallest and largest don't have a value yet. If the data I'm looking through has a 10 as the first value, then numbers[i]<smallest will be true (because 10 is < Integer.MAX_VALUE) and we'll update smallest to be 10. Similarly, numbers[i]>largest will be true because 10 is > Integer.MIN_VALUE and we'll update largest. And so on.

Of course, when doing this, you must ensure that you have at least one value in the data you're looking at. Otherwise, you end up with apocryphal numbers in smallest and largest.

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Note the point Onome Sotu makes in the comments:

...if the first item in the array is larger than the rest, then the largest item will always be Integer.MIN_VALUE because of the else-if statement.

Which is true; here's a simpler example demonstrating the problem (live copy):

public class Example {     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {         int[] values = {5, 1, 2};         int smallest = Integer.MAX_VALUE;         int largest  = Integer.MIN_VALUE;         for (int value : values) {             if (value < smallest) {                 smallest = value;             } else if (value > largest) {                 largest = value;             }         }         System.out.println(smallest + ", " + largest); // 1, 2 -- WRONG     } } 

To fix it, either:

1. Don't use else, or

2. Start with smallest and largest equal to the first element, and then loop the remaining elements, keeping the else if.

Here's an example of that second one (live copy):

public class Example {     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {         int[] values = {5, 1, 2};         int smallest = values[0];         int largest  = values[0];         for (int n = 1; n < values.length; ++n) {             int value = values[n];             if (value < smallest) {                 smallest = value;             } else if (value > largest) {                 largest = value;             }         }         System.out.println(smallest + ", " + largest); // 1, 5     } } 

Answer 2

Instead of initializing the variables with arbitrary values (for example int smallest = 9999, largest = 0) it is safer to initialize the variables with the largest and smallest values representable by that number type (that is int smallest = Integer.MAX_VALUE, largest = Integer.MIN_VALUE).

Since your integer array cannot contain a value larger than Integer.MAX_VALUE and smaller than Integer.MIN_VALUE your code works across all edge cases.