Question

Which number in the array below is both the largest in its column and the smallest in its row? (Columns go up and down, rows go right and left.)

$\begin{array}{ccccc} 10 & 6 & 4 & 3 & 2 \\ 11 & 7 & 14 & 10 & 8 \\ 8 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 9 \\ 13 & 4 & 15 & 12 & 1 \\ 8 & 2 & 5 & 9 & 3 \end{array}$

$1$

$6$

$7$

$12$

$15$

The largest entry in each column is $13$ (column $1$ ), $7$ (column $2$ ), $15$ (column $3$ ), $12$ (column $4$ ), and $9$ (column $5$ ).

Of these, only $7$ is the smallest number in its own row (row $2$ is $11, 7, 14, 10, 8$ ).

Thus, the correct answer is C .