Creating a loop in R to find a minimum value of a vector by using comparison operators (>, <, ==, etc.)

Question

I have a vector that contains 100 random values between 0 and 100 called "aVector". I need to create a loop that finds the minimum value within aVector using "if" statements and comparison operators (>, <, ==, etc.). I can't use min() or max() functions in or outside of the loop.

What I have so far (aVector is setup but my loop doesn't work):

set.seed

aVector <- sample(0:100, 100, replace=FALSE)

for (i in 1:(aVector)) {
  if(aVector[i] < 1)
    1 = aVector[i]
}

Answer 1

This should do the trick. First create a variable called "low" with a high value (as @alistaire suggested). Then, loop through your values of aVector. At each value, check if the value is less than low. If it is, update low to that value.

set.seed(42)

aVector <- sample(0:100, 100, replace=FALSE)

low <- Inf # initialize with high value
for (i in aVector) {

  if(i < low){
    low <- i
  }

}
print(low)

# Confirm we got correct answer
min(aVector)