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Writing C Programs to Find Maximum and Minimum Values from 10 Integers Entered via the Keyboard

Writing C Programs to Find Maximum and Minimum Values from 10 Integers Entered via the Keyboard

March 06, 2025 Digital

How to Write a C Program to Find Maximum and Minimum Values from 10 Integers Entered via the Keyboard

When working with C programming, one common task is reading a series of integers from the keyboard and storing them in an array. Once this is done, you might want to find the maximum and minimum values in that array. This article will guide you through the process using a practical example and explain the code in detail.

Steps to Implement the C Program

Step 1: Declare an Array to Hold the Integers

First, you need to declare an array large enough to hold the 10 integers you will read from the keyboard. Here's how you do it:

int numbers[10];

Step 2: Use a Loop to Read the Integers from the Keyboard

Next, you will use a loop to read the integers one by one from the user and store them in the array. The loop will run 10 times, allowing you to read 10 integers:

for (int i  0; i  10; i  ) {
    printf("Please enter integer %d: ", i   1);
    scanf("%d", numbers[i]);
}

Step 3: Initialize Variables to Keep Track of the Maximum and Minimum Values

Before you start comparing values to find the maximum and minimum, initialize variables for these values. A good choice is to initialize them with the first element of the array:

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

Step 4: Loop Through the Array to Find the Maximum and Minimum Values

Using another loop, you will iterate through the array and update the maximum and minimum values as necessary:

for (int i  1; i  10; i  ) {
    if (numbers[i]  max) {
        max  numbers[i];
    }
    if (numbers[i]  min) {
        min  numbers[i];
    }
}

Step 5: Print the Results

Finally, you will print the maximum and minimum values to the console:

printf("The maximum value is: %d
", max);
printf("The minimum value is: %d
", min);

Complete C Program

Here is the complete C program implementing the above steps:

#include stdio.h
int main(void) {
    int numbers[10];
    int max, min;
    // Read 10 integers from the keyboard
    printf("Enter 10 integers:
");
    for (int i  0; i  10; i  ) {
        printf("Integer %d: ", i   1);
        scanf("%d", numbers[i]);
    }
    // Initialize max and min with the first element of the array
    max  numbers[0];
    min  numbers[0];
    // Find the maximum and minimum values
    for (int i  1; i  10; i  ) {
        if (numbers[i]  max) {
            max  numbers[i];
        }
        if (numbers[i]  min) {
            min  numbers[i];
        }
    }
    // Print the results
    printf("The maximum value is: %d
", max);
    printf("The minimum value is: %d
", min);
    return 0;
}

Compiling and Running the Program

To compile and run this program, you can use a C compiler like gcc. Here’s how you can do it from the command line:

Save the above code in a file called find_max_min.c. Open a terminal or command prompt. Navigate to the directory where find_max_min.c is located. Compile the program with the following command: 
gcc -o find_max_min find_max_min.c
Run the compiled program with: 
./find_max_min

After running, you can input 10 integers, and the program will display the maximum and minimum values among them.

Conclusion

This guide has provided a step-by-step explanation of how to write a C program to read 10 integers from the keyboard, store them in an array, and find the maximum and minimum values. Understanding these basics will help you tackle more complex programming challenges involving arrays and user input.

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