C Program to Find Largest Element in an Array

Example: Display Largest Element of an array

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int i, n;
    float arr[100];

    printf("Enter total number of elements(1 to 100): ");
    scanf("%d", &n);
    printf("\n");

    // Stores number entered by the user
    for(i = 0; i < n; ++i)
    {
       printf("Enter Number %d: ", i+1);
       scanf("%f", &arr[i]);
    }

    // Loop to store largest number to arr[0]
    for(i = 1; i < n; ++i)
    {
       // Change < to > if you want to find the smallest element
       if(arr[0] < arr[i])
           arr[0] = arr[i];
    }
    printf("Largest element = %.2f", arr[0]);

    return 0;
}

Output

Enter total number of elements(1 to 100): 8

Enter Number 1: 23.4
Enter Number 2: -34.5
Enter Number 3: 50
Enter Number 4: 33.5
Enter Number 5: 55.5
Enter Number 6: 43.7
Enter Number 7: 5.7
Enter Number 8: -66.5

This program takes n number of elements from user and stores it in array arr[].

To find the largest element, the first two elements of array are checked and largest of these two element is placed in arr[0].

Then, the first and third elements are checked and largest of these two element is placed in arr[0].

This process continues until and first and last elements are checked.

Finally, the largest element of an array will be in arr[0] position.

The above program works fine, however, it alters the original array as well. The program below computes the largest element of an array without modifying the original array.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int i, n;
    float arr[100], temp;

    printf("Enter total number of elements(1 to 100): ");
    scanf("%d", &n);
    printf("\n");

    // Stores number entered by the user
    for(i = 0; i < n; ++i)
    {
       printf("Enter Number %d: ", i+1);
       scanf("%f", &arr[i]);
    }

    // Loop to store largest number to arr[0]
    for(i = 1; i < n; ++i)
    {
       // Change < to > if you want to find the smallest element
       if(arr[0] < arr[i]) 
       {
           temp = arr[0];
           arr[0] = arr[i];
           arr[i] = temp;
       }
          
    }
    printf("Largest element = %.2f", arr[0]);

    return 0;
}