JuliaLang/julia

min, min, minmax inconsistencies

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#61841 opened on May 18, 2026

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 (13 comments) (2 reactions) (0 assignees)Julia (48,709 stars) (5,773 forks)batch import
buggood first issuemaths

Description

The argument-handling of min, max, and minmax is currently somewhat inconsistent:

  • min and max can have 1+ arguments (code for 3+ args here), but minmax can only have 1 or 2 arguments (from discourse)
  • all three can have 1 numeric argument, but this is not mentioned in the docstrings
  • min and max support missing (returning missing), but throw a MethodError with a single missing argument ala min(missing)
  • minmax(missing, 1) is incorrect, returning (1, missing) rather than (missing, missing) — this is a clear bug

These are all easy to fix, so marking as "good first issue". Feel free to submit a single PR for just one of the above items.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
None
Domain
backenddocumentation
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Julia programming basicsUnderstanding of min/max functions
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
85
Research direction
The issue identifies inconsistencies in base/operators.jl for min, max, minmax. The first item requires extending minmax to accept varargs. The second involves updating docstrings. The third and fourth are bug fixes for missing handling. Each can be done independently; a single PR for one item is acceptable.