Question

Write a Java method, smallestIndex, that takes as its parameters an int array and its size, and returns the index of the (first occurrence of the) smallest element in the array. Also, write a program to test your method

Answer 1

The Java method 'smallestIndex' finds the index of the smallest element in an array. The provided implementation reveals the index for the first occurrence of the minimum value.

Step-by-step explanation:

The method smallestIndex takes an array of integers and its size as parameters, and returns the index of the first occurrence of the smallest element in the array. Below is an implementation of this method in Java:

public static int smallestIndex(int[] arr, int size) {
int index = 0;
int min = arr[0];
for(int i = 1; i < size; i++) {
if(arr[i] < min) {
min = arr[i];
index = i;
}
}
return index;
}

To test the method, a main program can be written as follows:

public static void main(String[] args) {
int[] array = {7, 3, 6, 1, 4};
int index = smallestIndex(array, array.length);
System.out.println("The index of the smallest element is: " + index);
}

When run, the main program will invoke the smallestIndex method and print the index of the smallest element to the console.