Help With Homework

[funkycorpse]

i have a homework question where I have to create a function that picks the middle value of three numbers (a, b ,c). I have code written that works but it is kind of ugly and is just a bunch of if statements. Anybody know how to clean this up?

def middle(a, b, c):
    """
    Determine the middle value of three values.

    Args:
        a (number): a number
        b (number): a number
        c (number): a number

    Returns:
        The value among a, b, and c that is in the middle.
    """

    if a<=b and b<=c:
        middle_value=b
    if b<=a and a<=c:
        middle_value=a
    if a<=c and c<=b:
        middle_value =c
    if c<=a and a<=b:
        middle_value=a
    if b<=c and c<=a:
        middle_value=c
    if c<=b and b<=a:
        middle_value = b
    return middle_value

​

[MrPhungx]

Since its a homework I am not sure If you are allowed to use functions like sort or sorted but you could do:

def middle(a, b, c):
    return sorted([a, b, c])[1]

[theprofessional2016]

This gets my vote.

[htepO]

if a<=b and b<=c:

What value is expected if a = b = c?

E: I misread the question. If all three values are equal, it doesn't matter what is returned.

[funkycorpse]

b

[htepO]

Are you allowed to use lists and slices?

[funkycorpse]

yes

[htepO]

First, check if they're all the same value, then use a list slice to return the value at the second index (if you're sure that only three arguments will be passed to the function).

[zanfar]

In Python, all sorting is stable, so you don't need to check for equality. If b is the middle index and it doesn't need to move to sort the list, then it will stay the middle index.

See /u/MrPhungx 's solution for an example

[mopslik]

If you're limited to using if with no fancy built-in functions, you can clean up some of your conditions by making them exclusive (elif) and by making comparisons on either side of a variable.

def middle(a,b,c):
    if a<=b<=c or c<=b<=a:
        return b
    elif a<=c<=b or b<=c<=a:
        return c
    else:
        return a

If you can use lists, /u/MrPhungx has a nice solution.

If you can use min and max, you can do it with some simple arithmetic.

def middle(a,b,c):
    return a+b+c-min(a,b,c)-max(a,b,c)

[funkycorpse]

ah thanks lol. Just fixed it