Finding the Maximum Element

Iterative and recursive way of finding the maximum among all the node's data.

Iterative Method :

int maximum(struct node *ptr) {

    // Variable to keep track of maximum element
    // Initialise with INT_MIN 
    int max = INT_MIN;
    
    while (ptr != NULL) {
        // Change max value is current data is greater 
        if (ptr -> data > max) {
            max = ptr -> data;
        }
        ptr = ptr -> next;
    }
    return max;
    
}

Recursive Method :

int maximum(struct node *ptr) {

    int max;
    
    if (ptr == NULL) {
        return INT_MIN;
    }
    max = maximum(p -> next);
    return max > p -> data ? max : p -> data;

}

Time and Space Complexity :

Iterative

Time complexity : O(n) Space complexity : O(n)

Recursive

Time complexity : O(n) Space complexity : O(1)

Contributed by Nitin Ranganath