The function return value of max_element() is a pointer, which corresponds to the position corresponding to the maximum value, and *max_element corresponds to the specific value of the maximum value, which is more efficient than setting the temporary variable for loop traversal to solve the maximum (small) value.
The test case is as follows:
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
int a[] = {
-5,-3,-3,-2,7,1}, b[] ={
-10,-5,3,4,6};
cout << *max_element(a, a + sizeof(a)/sizeof(int)) << endl;
cout << *min_element(b, b + sizeof(b)/sizeof(int)) << endl;
vector<int> c{
-5,-3,-3,-2,7,1}, d{
-10,-5,3,4,6};
cout << *max_element(c.begin(), c.end()) << endl;
cout << *min_element(d.begin(), d.end()) << endl;
return 0;
}
