benchmark.rb

require 'benchmark'

def benchmark(setting, &block)
  data = (1..1000).map { block.call }

  Benchmark.bm(15) do |x|
    x.report("compact #{setting}") do
      data.dup.each do |d|
        [d[0],d[1]].compact.min
      end
    end

    x.report("ternary #{setting}") do
      data.dup.each do |d|
        d[0] ? [d[0],d[1]].min : d[1]
      end
    end
  end
end

benchmark('exists'){ [rand,rand] }
benchmark('nil'){ [nil,rand] }

results.txt

                     user     system      total        real
compact exists   0.000000   0.000000   0.000000 (  0.002650)
ternary exists   0.000000   0.000000   0.000000 (  0.003089)
                     user     system      total        real
compact nil      0.000000   0.000000   0.000000 (  0.002113)
ternary nil      0.000000   0.000000   0.000000 (  0.000289)