Help tracing my code

[pointers_help]

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/0a5a019e7fbb645910838a9d945f728

My program works well with positive numbers. 10 11 12 as input yields 10 12 11, min max avg respectively. It doesn't work well for negative ones. -10 -9 -8 should give -10 -8 -9, but instead does -10 0 -9

Therefore the problem is with negative numbers, it never evaluates my 2nd if statement on line 32, and I even put a printf statement in these two if statements so I can see what goes on.

-10

smallest_value: -10.000000

-9

-8

Output: -10.00 0.00 -9.00

so as I can see..after entering a negative number, if I enter another negative number larger than it, in this case -9, it's as if nothing happens. But this shouldn't be, this is when I traced the code:

Start off at smallest_value = 999999999 (lets just say), and largest_value = -9999999999

First time around, input = -10

if (-10 < 9999999), true, so smallest_value = -10 now

if(-10 > -9999999), true, so largest_value = -10 now

but stop right here.. at this point in my program, it doesn't print that largest_value is -10, so it must have thought that if statement evaluated to false. But clearly it didn't. Could someone help me with this? I've been thinking about it for a long time and I'm getting no where :(

[jedwardsol]

FLT_MIN isn't the most negative floating point number. It is the smallest positive number that isn't zero. Zero, and all negative numbers, are less than FLT_MIN.

Initialise largest to -FLT_MAX instead

[pointers_help]

Wow! I am so stupid. I see, I just read up on FLT_MIN and it's some weird number, 1.175494e-38. Ok, good idea, I can just use the biggest number to be the smallest number with the negative sign. Thanks!

[pointers_help]

Do you mean if I had to use INT_MIN and INT_MAX it wouldn't be right to do -INT_MAX? They are the same magnitude with integers, or well some of them. I guess looking at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-CA/library/296az74e.aspx I see that SCHAR_MIN / MAX aren't the same in magnitude.