title: Python minimum value of matrix
body: <p>Say I have a matrix like the following.</p>
  
  <pre><code>[[1,2]
   [3,4]]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I want the number 1 to be returned as the minimum.<br>
  Currently I have </p>
  
  <pre><code>a = np.array([[1,2],[3,4]])
  min([min(element) for element in a])
  &gt;&gt; 1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Is there a more efficient way of doing this?</strong><br>
   I don't like my solution above. I tried <code>min(a)</code> which gives an error. I have read the answers provided in
  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23399801/find-maximum-and-minimum-value-of-a-matrix">Find maximum and minimum value of a matrix</a> and I feel that what I have is slightly better? </p>