Create Array that reorders given values to have smallest first and largest last while maintaining the rest of the array.

I'm trying to write a program that reorders a given array from a .mat file to have the smallest value first and the largest value last, while preserving the rest of the array.

What I have is:

y = vorder(load('vorder.mat'));

function y=vorder(x)
N = length(x);
y1 = x;

for i = 1:N-1
    if y1(i-1) > y1(i)
        tmp = y1(i);
        y1(i-1) = y1(i);
        y1(i) = tmp;
    end

end

for i = 2:N-1
    if y1(i) < y1(i-1)
        tmp = y1(i);
        y1(i) = y1(i-2);
        y1(i-1) = tmp;
    end
end
y = y1;
end

When I run this, it just replicates the exact array x, i'm not sure if it's from the "y = y1" and it's only taking that value or what I'm doing wrong with it.

Answer 1

[James Tursa]

That 2nd loop needs to run in reverse order. You need to bubble that smallest number which might be near the back all the way to the front. And you need to ask yourself if your algorithm leaves all of the other elements the same or does it change their order too?