Referencing max/min int in set for c++

Question

Say that I have the following example using a set in c++:

set <int> a;
for (int i = 0; i <10; i++){
//Assume i is a random number
a.insert(i);
}

How can you find the maximum and minimum values for the set example shown above? Ideally I thought that the following would work but it gives the following error:

error: cannot convert 'std::_Rb_tree_const_iterator<int>' to 'int' in assignment

I'm using the following functions to try getting max/min:

min = a.begin();
max = a.end();

Answer 1

First of all, begin and end return iterators, which you need to perform indirection on (*) to get the element they point at.

Secondly, end returns the past-the-end iterator, so doesn't actually refer to the last element. You can instead use the reverse begin iterator.

min = *a.begin();
max = *a.rbegin();

Answer 2

a.begin() and a.end() are iterators, not elements. Use

min = *a.begin();

to receive min element and

max = *a.rbegin();

to receive max.

max = *a.end();

will not work because it points on the next element after the last one. So it will return garbage.