GATE CSE 2025 Session 2 Q20: Comparisons to find an element that is not the maximum

Consider an unordered list of $N$ distinct integers.

What is the minimum number of element comparisons required to find an integer in the list that is NOT the largest in the list?

Try it: multiple choice: exactly one correct option

Wrong answer costs 1/3 mark in GATE.

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Answer: A (official GATE 2025 final answer key)

Concept used: Any element that loses a comparison cannot be the maximum.

First step: Compare any two elements; the smaller one is certainly not the largest.

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Source: official GATE 2025 Session 2 CS question paper and final answer key, organised by IIT Roorkee. Question paper · Answer key