DISPLAY MIN() and MAX() Values in MySQL - mysql

Question

I have a table called cia with 2 columns:
Column 1 ('Name') has the names of all countries in the world.
Column 2 ('area')has the size of those countries in m^2.
I want to find the biggest and smallest country. To find those I need to enter the following Queries:
SELECT Name, MAX(area) FROM cia
My other query:
SELECT Name, MIN(area) FROM cia
Now obviously I could do
SELECT MIN(area), MAX(area) FROM cia
however, I wouldn't get the corresponding name to my values then. Is it possible to get an output like this
Country | Fläche
Afghanistan | lowest value of column 'area'
China | highest value of column 'area'

Answer 1

This is the minimum size:
select min(area) from cia;
And this the maximum:
select max(area) from cia;
So:
select * from cia
where area = (select min(area) from cia)
or area = (select max(area) from cia)
order by area;

Answer 2

You can try this query:
CREATE TABLE area (name varchar(50), area int);
insert into area values ('Italy', 1000);
insert into area values ('China', 10000);
insert into area values ('San Marino', 10);
insert into area values ('Ghana', 3333);
select main.* from area main
where
not exists(
SELECT 'MINIMUM'
FROM area a2
where a2.area < main.area
)
or
not exists(
SELECT 'MAXIMUM'
FROM area a3
WHERE a3.area > main.area
)
order by area desc
In this way write only two subqueries. Other ways can go in error with other DBMS (no use of GROUP BY to show Name)
Go to Sql Fiddle

Answer 3

EDIT:
Sorry, my first thought was wrong. But this works.
SELECT Typ = 'MaxValue', * FROM (SELECT TOP 1 Name, area FROM cia ORDER BY area DESC) tmp1
UNION ALL
SELECT Typ = 'MinValue', * FROM (SELECT TOP 1 Name, area FROM cia ORDER BY area ASC) tmp2

Answer 4

You obviously have to hit the table twice, but there is no need for three hits.
select case Area when MaxArea then 'Largest' else 'Smallest' end Rating, b.Name as Country, b.Area
from(
select Max( Area ) as MaxArea, Min( Area ) as MinArea
from Cia a
) S
join Cia b
on b.Area = s.MaxArea
or b.Area = s.MinArea;