C Program to Find Largest Element in an Array

Example: Largest Element in an array

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
  int n;
  double arr[100];
  printf("Enter the number of elements (1 to 100): ");
  scanf("%d", &n);

  for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
    printf("Enter number%d: ", i + 1);
    scanf("%lf", &arr[i]);
  }

  // storing the largest number to arr[0]
  for (int i = 1; i < n; ++i) {
    if (arr[0] < arr[i]) {
      arr[0] = arr[i];
    }
  }

  printf("Largest element = %.2lf", arr[0]);

  return 0;
}

Output

Enter the number of elements (1 to 100): 5
Enter number1: 34.5
Enter number2: 2.4
Enter number3: -35.5
Enter number4: 38.7
Enter number5: 24.5
Largest element = 38.70

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

To find the largest element,

• the first two elements of array are checked and the largest of these two elements are placed in arr[0]
• the first and third elements are checked and largest of these two elements is placed in arr[0].
• this process continues until the first and last elements are checked
• the largest number will be stored in the arr[0] position

// storing the largest number at arr[0]
for (int i = 1; i < n; ++i) {
  if (arr[0] < arr[i]) {
    arr[0] = arr[i];
  }
}