# assume a hash that looks like this:

%hash =
(  1 => $hashref,
   2 => $anotherhashref );

sub least_key {
  my %nums = %{ shift };
  shift (@{ sort { $a <=> $b } keys (%nums) });
}
	
sub high_key {
  my %nums = %{ shift };
  shift (@{ sort { $b <=> $a } keys (%nums) });
}