Find minimum and maximum number from array, minimum is always 0

Question

The program first asks the user for the number of elements to be stored in the array, then asks for the numbers.

This is my code

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.Write("How many numbers do you want to store in array: ");
        int n = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
        int[] numbers = new int[n];
        int min = numbers[0];
        int max = numbers[0];

        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        {
            Console.Write("Enter number {0}:  ", i+1);
            numbers[i] = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
        {
            if (min > numbers[i]) min = numbers[i];
            if (max < numbers[i]) max = numbers[i];
        }
        Console.WriteLine("The minimum is: {0}", min);
        Console.WriteLine("The maximum is: {0}", max);
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

But minimum value is always 0, why is that?

Answer 1

Besides on your problem, you can use Enumerable.Min and Enumerable.Max methods like;

int[] numbers = new int[]{1, 2, 3 ,4};
Console.WriteLine(numbers.Min()); //1
Console.WriteLine(numbers.Max()); //4

Don't forget to add System.Linq namespace.

Answer 2

Your issue is that you're initializing min and max to numbers[0] before numbers is populated, so they're both getting set to zero. This is wrong both for min (in case all your numbers are positive) and for max (in case all your numbers are negative).

If you move the block

int min = numbers[0];
int max = numbers[0];

to after the block

for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
    Console.Write("Enter number {0}:  ", i+1);
    numbers[i] = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
}

then min and max will both be initialized to the first input number, which is fine. In fact you can then restrict your for loop to just check the subsequent numbers:

for (int i = 1; i < n; i++)
    ....

Just make sure the user's value of n is greater than zero!

Answer 3

You are initializing min to 0.

Try following

int min = Int32.MaxValue;

Also In case you are accepting negative values as input, you should initialize max to minimum integer value.

int max = Int32.MinValue;

Answer 4

This code will help you in very simple way without adding any loops and conditions

int[] arr={1,1,2,4,5,1,2,1};
Array.Sort(arr);
Console.WriteLine("Min no: "+arr[0]);
Console.WriteLine("Max no: "+arr[arr.Length-1]);

Answer 5

        for (int i = 0; i < vector.GetLength(0); i++)
        {
            if (i == 0)
            {
                VectorMinMax[1]= vector[i];
                VectorMinMax[0]= vector[i];
            }
            else {
                if (VectorMinMax[1] > vector[i]) VectorMinMax[1] = vector[i];
                if (VectorMinMax[0] < vector[i]) VectorMinMax[0] = vector[i];
            }

        }