Question

can anyone help me with python?

Answer 1

I know a little python...
what might i be able to help you with?

Answer 2

Write a function named smallestValue that accepts five integers and return the
smallest integer accepted. Do not use a List or any Build-in functions

Answer 3

i have no idea to do it rather than calling in a built in function :(

Answer 4

hmm, lemme check my book
I mainly do game development with python rather than anything else. :P

Answer 5

thanks mate :)

Answer 6

hmm...
is this what your looking for: http://www.pythonlearn.com/html-008/cfbook005.html (check section 4.2)

Answer 7

@immanuelv
yo, you still there?

Answer 8

im here @rdvl97 :)

Answer 9

cool :)

Answer 10

did you check the link?

Answer 11

im checkin it right now

Answer 12

it shows the built in function .... but i cant use it :(

Answer 13

Gah! sorry i forgot :(

Answer 14

yeah... my teacher finds ways to make my life complicated lol

Answer 15

does it have to accept numbers with multiple digits?

Answer 16

i guess.... it would've been easy if i could use arrays ...but he wont give me credit for it ;(

Answer 17

are you able to use if, else, elif statements?
If you can, I think I have an idea.

Answer 18

im pretty sure those arent considered built in functions...

Answer 19

yea i can use if elifs

Answer 20

wait...

Answer 21

are you able to use tuples?

Answer 22

haha well he didnt say anything about tuples... so i guess i can :)

Answer 23

lol cool that makes things a bit simpler :)

Answer 24

Well, if you had to hard code it you could do a tree of if-then, but it is probably better to just keep track of the first as a temp, check it against the next, if it is smaller replace the temp, if not, keep going, until at the end.

Answer 25

For replacing the "min" function, set up a loop to go through each integer and compare it against static integers
if 1 <= a
elif 2 <= a
elif 3 <= a
elif 4 <= a
elif 5 <= a
etc..

its not efficient but it works

Answer 26

@rdvl97 Well, if you can't use lists, there is no need to loop.

Answer 27

cool

Answer 28

something like this would work?

num = int(input("enter a number"))
small = num

for num in range (5)

if num < s
s = num
num = int(input("enter a number"))
print(num)
?

Answer 29

@e.mccormick sorry, I don't know why I said loop. :P

Answer 30

Not really. You only have 1 number there. They seem to be asking for all 5 at once to go to the function.

Answer 31

If you look at the instructions, it takes in 5 ints at once and returns the lowest. It is not allowed to use a list, which is the python version of an array for most other languages, and no built in functions so it is limiting you to some pretty basic stuff.

Mist as well take the ints as seperate variables and just walk through them, save the lowest to a temp variable. Then return the temp.

Answer 32

would this work?

a = int(input("")
b = int(input("")
c = int(input("")
d = int(input("")
e = int(input("")
if (a < b && a < c && a < d && a < e):
return a
elif (b < a && b < c && b < d && a < e):
return b
elif (c < a && c < b && c < d && c < e):
return c
elif (d < a && d < b && d < c && d < e):
return d
elif (e < a && e < b && e < c && e < d):
return e

something like that works?

Answer 33

Umm.... yah.... but it is awkward.

if a < b:
t = a
else:
t = b
if c < t:
t = c

and so on. Then return t.

Answer 34

Your first one sets the temp t to the lower of a or b. Everything else just sees if it is lower than t and if so, sets t to that.

Answer 35

that makes sense... its easier than my method.... thanks mod @e.mccormick !!!

Answer 36

It is sort of like a single pass of a simple sort.