Rank: ? (4)
Member #: 28331

I'm taking a beginning C++ course (stupidly online), and even though I've been able to understand and program in other languages such as Assembler/270 and Cobol, I can't get the grasp of programming even a basic program in C++. This program is one where I have to compare three numbers and find out what is the smallest, largest, the sum, the average & the product. None seem to be computing correctly.

I'm not asking for answers necessarily, just a few pointers that might help me since I seem to be doing a multitude of things incorrectly. Thanks for any help that you could possible give.

#include <iostream>

using std::cout;
using std::endl;
using std::cin;

int main()

{
int sum;
int average;
int number1;
int number2;
int number3;
int smallest;
int largest;
int product;

cout << "Input three different integers: ";
cin >> number1 >> number2 >> number3;

largest = number1;

if ( number2 > largest && number2 > largest )
number2 = largest;
if ( number3 > largest && number3 > largest )
number3 = largest;

smallest = number1;

if ( number2 < number1 && number2 < number3 )
number2 = smallest;

if ( number3 < number1 && number3 < number2 )
number3 = smallest;

average = ( number1 + number2 + number3 ) / 3;
sum = number1 + number2 + number3;
product = number1 * number2 * number3;

cout << "The largest number is: " << largest << endl;
cout << "The smallest number is: " << smallest << endl;
cout << "The sum is: " << sum << endl;
cout << "The average is: " << average << endl;
cout << "The product is: " << product << endl;
return 0;
}

Rank: ? (119)
Member #: 28292

The one way to do it:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
if(number1 > number2)
largest = number1;
else
largest = number2;
if(largest < number3)
largest = number3;
cout << "The largest number is: " << largest << endl;
if(number1 < number2)
smallest = number1;
else
smallest = number2;
if(smallest > number3)
smallest = number3;
cout << "The smallest number is: " << smallest << endl;
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The other way to do it:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
largest = (number1 > number2) ? number1 : number2;
largest = (largest < number3) ? number3 : largest;
cout << "The largest number is: " << largest << endl;
smallest = (number1 < number2) ? number1 : number2;
smallest = (smallest > number3) ? number3 : smallest;
cout << "The smallest number is: " << smallest << endl;
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The third way to do it is more difficult to understand:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
largest=(number1>number2)?(number1<number3?number3:number1):(number2<number3?number3:number2);
cout << "The largest number is: " << largest << endl;
smallest=(number1<number2)?(number1>number3?number3:number1):(number2>number3?number3:number2);
cout << "The smallest number is: " << smallest << endl;
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The product, average and sum are correct. But if you want to make it a little bit faster
first calculate the sum and than average:
sum = number1 + number2 + number3;
average = sum / 3;
For more information about "if/else" and "?:" go to:
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/language/tutorial/control.html
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/language/tutorial/operators.html

Rank: ? (4)
Member #: 28331

Thanks a lot for all the help! I used the first way to do it and it worked great.

The links were helpful as well.

Rank: ? (3)
Member #: 29256

yeah you should feel like an idiot!!

Rank: ? (768)
Member #: 11085

Don't revive old topics merely for the purpose of insult, especially when they are hardly worse at programming that you yourself.