ARRAYS - Java Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design - page 562

Before the for loop begins, maxIndex is initialized to 0 and the for loop initializes
index to 1 . In Table 9-1, we show the values of maxIndex , index , and certain array
elements during each iteration of the for loop:

TABLE 9-1 Values of sales Array Elements during for Loop Iterations

sales
[maxIndex]

sales
[index]

sales[maxIndex] <
sales[index]

index maxIndex

1 0 12.50 8.35 12.50 < 8.35 is false

12.50 < 19.60 is true ;
maxIndex = 2

2 0 12.50 19.60

19.60 < 25.00 is true ;
maxIndex = 3

3 2 19.60 25.00

4 3 25.00 14.00 25.00 < 14.00 is false

25.00 < 39.43 is true ;
maxIndex = 5

5 3 25.00 39.43

6 5 39.43 35.90 39.43 < 35.90 is false

39.43 < 98.23 is true ;
maxIndex = 7

7 5 39.43 98.23

8 7 98.23 66.65 98.23 < 66.65 is false

9 7 98.23 35.64 98.23 < 35.64 is false

After the for loop executes, maxIndex = 7 , giving the index of the largest element in the
array sales . Thus, largestSale = sales[maxIndex] = 98.23 .

In an array, if the largest element occurs more than once, then the previous
algorithm will find the index of the first occurrence of the largest element. The
algorithm to find the smallest element in an array is similar to the algorithm for
finding the largest element in an array. (See Programming Exercise 2 at the end of
this chapter.)

Now that we know how to declare and process arrays, let's rewrite the program that we
discussed in the beginning of this chapter. Recall that this program reads five numbers,
finds the sum, and prints the numbers in reverse order.