NumPy: function for simultaneous max() and min()

Question

numpy.amax() will find the max value in an array, and numpy.amin() does the same for the min value. If I want to find both max and min, I have to call both functions, which

Answer 1

Just to get some ideas on the numbers one could expect, given the following approaches:

import numpy as np


def extrema_np(arr):
    return np.max(arr), np.min(arr)

import numba as nb


@nb.jit(nopython=True)
def extrema_loop_nb(arr):
    n = arr.size
    max_val = min_val = arr[0]
    for i in range(1, n):
        item = arr[i]
        if item > max_val:
            max_val = item
        elif item < min_val:
            min_val = item
    return max_val, min_val

import numba as nb


@nb.jit(nopython=True)
def extrema_while_nb(arr):
    n = arr.size
    odd = n % 2
    if not odd:
        n -= 1
    max_val = min_val = arr[0]
    i = 1
    while i < n:
        x = arr[i]
        y = arr[i + 1]
        if x > y:
            x, y = y, x
        min_val = min(x, min_val)
        max_val = max(y, max_val)
        i += 2
    if not odd:
        x = arr[n]
        min_val = min(x, min_val)
        max_val = max(x, max_val)
    return max_val, min_val

%%cython -c-O3 -c-march=native -a
#cython: language_level=3, boundscheck=False, wraparound=False, initializedcheck=False, cdivision=True, infer_types=True


import numpy as np


cdef void _extrema_loop_cy(
        long[:] arr,
        size_t n,
        long[:] result):
    cdef size_t i
    cdef long item, max_val, min_val
    max_val = arr[0]
    min_val = arr[0]
    for i in range(1, n):
        item = arr[i]
        if item > max_val:
            max_val = item
        elif item < min_val:
            min_val = item
    result[0] = max_val
    result[1] = min_val


def extrema_loop_cy(arr):
    result = np.zeros(2, dtype=arr.dtype)
    _extrema_loop_cy(arr, arr.size, result)
    return result[0], result[1]

%%cython -c-O3 -c-march=native -a
#cython: language_level=3, boundscheck=False, wraparound=False, initializedcheck=False, cdivision=True, infer_types=True


import numpy as np


cdef void _extrema_while_cy(
        long[:] arr,
        size_t n,
        long[:] result):
    cdef size_t i, odd
    cdef long x, y, max_val, min_val
    max_val = arr[0]
    min_val = arr[0]
    odd = n % 2
    if not odd:
        n -= 1
    max_val = min_val = arr[0]
    i = 1
    while i < n:
        x = arr[i]
        y = arr[i + 1]
        if x > y:
            x, y = y, x
        min_val = min(x, min_val)
        max_val = max(y, max_val)
        i += 2
    if not odd:
        x = arr[n]
        min_val = min(x, min_val)
        max_val = max(x, max_val)
    result[0] = max_val
    result[1] = min_val


def extrema_while_cy(arr):
    result = np.zeros(2, dtype=arr.dtype)
    _extrema_while_cy(arr, arr.size, result)
    return result[0], result[1]

(the extrema_loop_*() approaches are similar to what is proposed here, while extrema_while_*() approaches are based on the code from here)

The following timings:

indicate that the extrema_while_*() are the fastest, with extrema_while_nb() being fastest. In any case, also the extrema_loop_nb() and extrema_loop_cy() solutions do outperform the NumPy-only approach (using np.max() and np.min() separately).

Finally, note that none of these is as flexible as np.min()/np.max() (in terms of n-dim support, axis parameter, etc.).

(full code is available here)