First, through `describe()`, then they added `value_range()`, then they deprecated `value_range()` in favor of `describe()` again.
As for numpy, trying to come up with the right semantics for the shape of the output is usually when such discussions die. Functions like a statistical range calculation are expected to be like `min()` and `max()` and allow us to apply them axis-wise (e.g. just down columns or just across rows, or more any other axis in an N-D array). Odds are, the way that we'll pack the two results into a single output will probably not be what you want in half of the cases, so you'll just have to unpack anyways, and at that point, it's just not that much more convenient than calling `min()` and `max()` separately. So every time we write `xmin, xmax = x.min(), x.max()`, we grumble a little bit, but it's just a grumble, not a significant pain.
pandas has other considerations, but you'll have to ask them.