Java Program to Find the Biggest of 3 Numbers

1. Overview

In this w3schools java programming series, You'll be learning today how to find the biggest of 3 numbers. This is also a very basic interview question. But the interviewer will look for the optimized and fewer lines code. We will show you all the possible programs and how most of java developers think.

For example, given three numbers 4 67 8. Among these three 67 is bigger. For this, we need to perform a comparison with all numbers.

How to add 3 numbers in java?

2. Program 1: To find the biggest of three numbers using if-else 

First, an example program to read the three values from the user using Scanner class and nextInt() method. Then next, use the if-else condition to find the largest number.

Scanner has to be closed at the of the class.

a > b && a > c is true then a is the largest.
b > a && b > c is true then b is the largest
else c is the largest.

package com.javaprogramto.engineering.programs;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class BiggestOfThree1 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        
        System.out.println("Enter first number : ");
        int a = scanner.nextInt();

        System.out.println("Enter second number : ");
        int b = scanner.nextInt();

        System.out.println("Enter third number : ");
        int c = scanner.nextInt();

        if (a > b && a > c) {
            System.out.println(a + " is the largest");
        } else if (b > a && b > c) {
            System.out.println(b + " is the largest");
        } else {
            System.out.println(c + " is the largest");
        }
    }

}

Output:

Enter first number : 10
Enter second number : 30
Enter third number :  20
30 is the largest

3. Program 2: To find the biggest of three numbers using nested if-else

package com.javaprogramto.engineering.programs;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class BiggestOfThree2 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        int a = 10;
        int b = 30;
        int c = 20;
        
        if (a > b) {
            if(a > c) {
                System.out.println(a + " is the largest");
            } else {
                System.out.println(c + " is the largest");
            }
        } else if (b > a && b > c) {
            if(b > c) {
                System.out.println(b + " is the largest");
            } else {
                System.out.println(c + " is the largest");
            }
        } else {
            System.out.println(c + " is the largest");
        }
    }

}

This code produces the same output as above. But code looks not clear and is difficult to understand.

4. Program 3: To find the biggest of three numbers using if-else with reducing the condition logic

package com.javaprogramto.engineering.programs;

public class BiggestOfThree3 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a = 10;
        int b = 30;
        int c = 20;

        if (a > b && a > c) {
            System.out.println(a + " is the largest");
        } else if (b > c) {
            System.out.println(b + " is the largest");
        } else {
            System.out.println(c + " is the largest");
        }
    }

}

This code is clear and easy to understand. If a > b && a > c is true then a is the largest, false means value 'a' not biggest which means biggest is might be either b or c. Next checking b > c, returns true if value 'b' is bigger else value 'c' bigger.

5. Program 4: To find the biggest of three numbers using the nested ternary operator

The below code is based on the ternary operator which returns a value. We have wrapped all conditions into a single line which is effective but not readable.

package com.javaprogramto.engineering.programs;

public class BiggestOfThree4 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int a = 10;
        int b = 30;
        int c = 20;

        int biggest = (a > b && a > c) ? a : ((b > c) ? b : c);
        System.out.println(biggest + " is the largest");

    }

}

6. Conclusion

In this article, We've seen all possible ways to find the biggest of three numbers in java. All programs produce the same output but the way easy to understand and simple to explain is program 3. This code is optimized, more readable and easy to understand.