Find smallest value in Array without Math.min

Question

How can I find the lowest number in an array without using Math.min.apply?

var arr = [5,1,9,5,7];

const smallest = Math.min(...[5,1,9,5,7]);

console.log({smallest});

//old way
const smallestES5 = Math.min.apply(null, [5,1,9,5,7]);

console.log({smallestES5});

Answer 1

Now when look at my own question.. it looks so silly of me.

Below would be perfect solution to find the smallest number in an array:

By default, the sort method sorts elements alphabetically. To sort numerically just add a new method which handles numeric sorts

var arr = [5, 1, 9, 5, 7];

var smallest = arr.sort((a, b) => a - b);

alert(smallest[0]);

Answer 2

If you must use a for loop:

var arr = [5,1,9,5,7];
var smallest = arr[0];

for(var i=1; i<arr.length; i++){
    if(arr[i] < smallest){
        smallest = arr[i];   
    }
}

console.log(smallest);

Answer 3

just sort the array and take the first value, easy.

if you must use a for loop:

var arr = [5,1,9,5,7];
for (var i=0; i<1; i++) {
    arr.sort();
}
return arr[0];

Answer 4

Here's a simple solution using a for loop.

var arr = [5,1,9,5,7];
var smallest = arr[0];
for (var i=0; i<arr.length; i++){
    if (arr[i]<smallest){
        smallest = arr[i];
    }
}
return smallest;

Returns 1.

Answer 5

Alternate solution without using for loop (ES6). JavaScript reduce method is a good choice.

var arr = [5,1,9,5,7];
var smallest = arr.reduce((prev,next) => prev>next ? next : prev);
var largest = arr.reduce((prev,next) => prev<next ? next : prev);

Answer 6

you can try this

const min = (arr) => {
 return arr.sort((a, b) => a - b)[0];
 };

this min() function should make the job done

Answer 7

var arr = [5, 1, 9, 5, 7,-1,0,5,11,100,-0.5];

var smallest = arr.sort();

console.log(smallest[0]);

Answer 8

Make a function so you can reuse it as per your needs. Here I just showed an example of the smallest number finder.

function smallestNumber(number){
    let min = number[0];
    for(let i = 0; i < number.length; i++){
        let element = number[i];
        if( element < min ){
            min = element
        }
    }
    return min;
}


let totalNum = [25,50,75,56,11,50,7,9,12];
let result = smallestNumber(totalNum);
console.log('The small number is : ',result);