C Program to Find Largest Element of an Array

This program takes n number of element from user (where, n is specified by user) and stores data in an array. Then, this program displays the largest element of that array using loops.

To understand this example, you should have the knowledge of following C programming topics:

• C Programming for Loop
• C Programming Arrays

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.