Sort numbers in Java to find minimum and maximum values without using Array

Recently a reader contacted me with a question about sorting numbers in Java. After sorting the number the program then needs to print the largest and smallest values. I have written a post earlier that shows one way of finding largest and smallest numbers. That approach used Arrays but the reader wanted to find largest and smallest values from a group of numbers without using Arrays. So here is another approach.

This program accepts input from the user and then prints out the largest and smallest numbers.

import java.util.*; 
public class NumberSorter{
	public static void main(String args[]){
	  double a, b, c, x, y;
	  Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in); 
	  System.out.print("Enter the first number: " ); 
	  a = console.nextDouble() ;
	  System.out.print("Enter the second number: " ); 
	  b  = console.nextDouble() ;
	  System.out.print("Enter the third number: " ); 
	  c = console.nextDouble();
	  x= Math.min(a, Math.min(b, c));
	  y= Math.max(a, Math.max(b, c));
	  System.out.println("\n" +x + " is the smallest number.\n" + y 
	                     +" is the largest number.");
	}
}

Hope you find this useful. Share your ideas on how else can we find largest and smallest values from a group of numbers Java.