Find the Minimum and Maximum Numbers in a List

1. The Challenge: Min and Max Extrema

Create a function find_min_max(nums) that takes a list of numbers and returns a list containing both the smallest and largest numbers in that order: [min, max].

2. Why It Matters

Finding list boundaries is essential for scaling data features, filtering outliers, and determining dataset ranges.

3. The Python Solution

Use Python's built-in min() and max() functions:

def find_min_max(nums):
    return [min(nums), max(nums)]

# Testing our function
print(find_min_max([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]))        # Output: [1, 5]
print(find_min_max([2334454, 5]))           # Output: [5, 2334454]
print(find_min_max([1]))                    # Output: [1, 1]
print(find_min_max([-10, 0, 50, 20]))       # Output: [-10, 50]

4. How Built-in min() and max() Work

Python iterates through the list in O(N) time to determine the lowest and highest values without modifying or sorting the original list.

5. Common Mistakes

• ValueError on Empty Lists: Calling min([]) or max([]) on an empty list raises a ValueError: min() arg is an empty sequence. Always check if not nums: return [].

6. Next Steps

Use min() and max() for fast list extrema retrieval. Next, let's check if a string is empty!