Find Minimum (Editoryal)

The problem can be solved either using an array or without one. We'll store the minimum value in the variable $min$. Initially, it can be assigned either a value representing "infinity" (for example, a number greater than or equal to the maximum possible value among the input data — such a number could be 10^5), or simply the first of the given numbers.

Next, process all the input data sequentially. If the current number is less than the current value of the variable $min$, update it by assigning the new value.

Example

Let's examine how the value of the variable $min$ changes during the processing of the input sequence.

Algorithm implementation

Read the number of given values $n$.

scanf("%d",&n);

Initialize the variable $min$ with a large value — it will store the required minimum.

min = 100000;

Process all $n$ numbers sequentially.

for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
{

Read the next value $val$.

  scanf("%d",&val);

If this value is less than the current value of the variable $min$, update the minimum.

  if (val < min) min = val;
}

Print the found minimum.

printf("%d\n",min);

Algorithm implementation — initialize the minimum

Read the number of given values $n$.

scanf("%d",&n);

Initialize the variable $min$ with a large value — it will store the required minimum.

scanf("%d",&min);

Then read the remaining n - 1 numbers.

for(i = 1; i < n; i++)
{

Read the next value $val$.

  scanf("%d",&val);

If this value is less than the current value of the variable $min$, update the minimum.

  if (val < min) min = val;
}

Print the found minimum.

printf("%d\n",min);

Algorithm implementation – STL

Read the input data.

scanf("%d", &n);
v.resize(n);
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
  scanf("%d", &v[i]);

Compute and print the smallest element.

res = *min_element(v.begin(), v.end());
printf("%d\n", res);

Java implementation — compute minimum on fly

import java.util.*;

public class Main 
{
  public static void main(String[] args) 
  {
    Scanner con = new Scanner(System.in);
    int n = con.nextInt();
    int min = Integer.MAX_VALUE;

    for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
    {
      int val = con.nextInt();
      if (val < min) min = val;
    }

    System.out.println(min);
    con.close();
  }
}

Java implementation — using the array

import java.util.*;

public class Main
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    Scanner con = new Scanner(System.in);
    int n = con.nextInt();
    int m[] = new int[n];
    
    // Read data
    for(int i = 0; i < m.length; i++)
      m[i] = con.nextInt();

    // Find minimum in array
    int min = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
    for(int i = 0; i < m.length; i++)
      if (m[i] < min) min = m[i];
    
    // Print the minimum
    System.out.println(min);
    con.close();
  }
}

Python implementation with indexes of a list elements

import sys

Read the input data.

n = int(input())
m = list(map(int,input().split()))

Initialize the variable $min$ with a large value — it will store the required minimum.

min = sys.maxsize

Next, process the elements of the list $m$ sequentially. During the iteration, update the variable $min$, keeping the smallest element of the list in it.

for i in range(n):
  if m[i] < min: min = m[i]

Print the answer.

print(min)

Python implementation

import sys

Read the input data.

n = int(input())
m = list(map(int,input().split()))

Initialize the variable $min$ with a large value — it will store the required minimum.

min = sys.maxsize

Next, process the elements of the list $m$ sequentially. During the iteration, update the variable $min$, keeping the smallest element of the list in it.

for v in m:
  if v < min: min = v

Print the answer.

print(min)

Python implementation — function min

Read the input data.

n = int(input())
m = list(map(int,input().split()))

The min function returns the minimum element in the list. Print the answer.

print(min(m))