min()

Description

Find the smaller of two numbers using the

min()

Syntax

Use the following function to compare two numbers and find the smaller:

min(x, y)

Parameters

The function admits the following parameters:

• x

  : the first number to compare. Allowed data types: any data type.

• y

  : the second number to compare. Allowed data types: any data type.

Returns

This function returns the smaller of the two parameter values compared.

Example Code

Compares

a

b

1int a = 25;
2int b = 14;
3
4void setup() {
5  Serial.begin(9600);
6
7  int min = min(a, b);
8
9  Serial.print("The smaller value is: ");
10  Serial.println(min);
11}
12
13void loop() {
14}

Another typical application could be to constrain a maximum value of a variable, as shown in the following example:

1sensVal = min(sensVal, 100);  // assigns sensVal to the smaller of sensVal or 100
2                              // ensuring that it never gets above 100.

Notes and Warnings

Perhaps counter-intuitively,

max()

min()

Because of the way the

min()

1min(a++, 100);  // avoid this - yields incorrect results
2
3min(a, 100);
4a++;  // use this instead - keep other math outside the function

See also

• abs()
• constrain()
• map()
• max()
• pow()
• sq()
• sqrt()