gistfile1.txt

var li = [5,6,4,9,3];

function min(a, b) {
    return a < b ? a : b;
}

// reduce is an awesome function. in this situation it's doing:
// min(5,6) -> 5... min(5,4) -> 4... min(4,9) -> 4... min(4,3) -> 3... done
// you provide a function that takes two arguments and it goes through the list,
// using the return value as one of the arguments and the next list element as the other.

console.log(li.reduce(min)); // returns 3

// procedural
// this took longer to write and I find its inner workings less expressive/self-documenting.

var min2 = li[0];
for (var i = 0; i < li.length; i++) {
    if (li[i] < min2) {
        min2 = li[i];
    }
}
console.log(min2);