Find min and max with Divide and Conquer

function get_min_and_max(int i, int j){
  //get the minimum and maximum values for the caller array
  //If the array has a single element then
  if (i == j) {
    max, min = a[i]
  }
  else if (i == j-1) {  //If the array has two elements, The Problem is too small to solve.
    if (a[i] < a[j]) {
      max = a[j]
      min = a[i]
    }
    else{
      max = a[i]
      min = a[j]
    }
  }
  else{   //The problem is too big to solve, hence need to divide into subproblems
    mid_val = (i+j)/ 2
    min_1, max_1 = get_min_and_max(i, mid_val)
    min_2, max_2 = get_min_and_max(mid_val + 1, j)
    //Now combine the solution of the subproblems
    if min_1 < min_2{
      min = min_1
    }
    else{
      min = min_2
    }
    
    if max_1 > max_2{
      max = max_1
    }
    else{
      max = max_2
    }
  }

  return min, max
}