The present invention is directed toward identifying selected values from among a set of values. In accordance with an embodiment, a method of identifying two selected values from among a plurality of values comprises: partitioning the plurality of values into pairs of values; for each pair of values, using a comparator to select one of the two values to form a vector from the selected value of each pair; and applying the vector to a hardware unit that identifies first and second extreme values from among the values of the vector.