Discovering the minimum/maximum value within an array by iterating through each element

Question

Discovering the minimum/maximum value within an array by iterating through each element

One of the tasks for my web development course is as follows:

In order to convince your boss to allow adjustable thermostats in the office suite, you need to demonstrate that significant temperature variations occur in different offices and within each office on different days. Your assignment is to create a program that lets employees enter the noon temperature for five days and then displays the highest, lowest, and average temperatures. You should use a For loop to record the temperatures (Tip: Start by initializing variables for the highest and lowest temperatures with the first reading, then compare subsequent readings to determine if they are higher or lower.) Remember to use the parseFloat() method to convert temperature inputs into decimal numbers and display the average to one decimal place.

How can I calculate the average temperature?

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<body>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    var high; // variable for highest temperature
    var low; // variable for lowest temperature
    var avg; // variable for average temperature

    var temperatures = [];

    for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        high = temperatures[0];
        low = temperatures[0];

        temperatures.push(parseFloat(prompt("Enter the temperature for day " + (i+1))));

        if (high < temperatures[i]) {
            high = temperatures[i]; }
        if (low > temperatures[i]) {
            low = temperatures[i]; }

    }

    document.write("The highest temperature is " + high + ".<br>");
    document.write("The lowest temperature was " + low + ".<br>");
    document.write("The average temperature was " + avg + ".");
    </script>
</body>
</html>

javascript arrays loops

Answer 1

Answer №1

Starting Point:

@Emily, I've provided a snippet below to help you begin using a for loop for gathering user input.

var temperatures = [];

for (var i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
    var temperature = prompt('Enter temperature for day ' + i);
    // Process input and add it to the temperatures array
}

Moving Forward:

Great job! You now have an array called temperatures containing 5 temperature values. In the revised example below, I've split the line for capturing and pushing the value into separate statements for clarity. See below:

var temperature = prompt('Enter the temperature for day ' + (i + 1));
temperatures.push(parseFloat(temperature));

One small adjustment that needs to be made is setting the high and low values inside the loop before any inputs have been added to the temperatures array. This aspect will need to be revisited.

Prior to tackling the average temperature calculation, let's address finding the sum of all values. The iterative nature of our loop allows us to accumulate these values as we progress through each input. Here's how:

var temperatures = [];
var total = 0;
var high;
var low;
var avg;

for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    // Capture, parse, and append temperature to temperatures array
    var temperature = prompt('Enter the temperature for day ' + (i + 1));
    temperatures.push(parseFloat(temperature));

    // Add current temperature to total sum
    total += temperature;
}

As for determining the highest and lowest temperatures, your recent question update code would cause the high and low values to reset with every iteration of the loop, resulting in inaccurate comparisons. To rectify this, consider initializing high and low to extreme values, guaranteeing user-entered temperatures will always surpass or fall beneath them. For instance:

var high = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
var low = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;

During each loop iteration, utilize your existing logic to compare the present temperature against the previous high and low values. Here's how:

var temperatures = [];
var total = 0;
var high = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
var low = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
var avg;

for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    // Capture, parse, and append temperature to temperatures array
    var temperature = prompt('Enter the temperature for day ' + (i + 1));
    temperatures.push(parseFloat(temperature));

    // Add current temperature to total sum
    total += temperature;

    // Compare high and low temperatures
    if (high < temperature) high = temperature;
    if (low > temperature) low = temperature;
}

Concluding Step:

If desired, there's room for further enhancements in this code. However, such improvements may extend beyond the initial question scope.

To explore potential enhancements, consider utilizing functions like Math.min(), Math.max(), and apply(). If interested, I can furnish additional code snippets demonstrating how these functions can aid in determining high and low temperatures, along with employing Array.prototype.reduce for calculating averages.

Answer 2

Starting Point:

@Emily, I've provided a snippet below to help you begin using a for loop for gathering user input.

var temperatures = [];

for (var i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
    var temperature = prompt('Enter temperature for day ' + i);
    // Process input and add it to the temperatures array
}

Moving Forward:

Great job! You now have an array called temperatures containing 5 temperature values. In the revised example below, I've split the line for capturing and pushing the value into separate statements for clarity. See below:

var temperature = prompt('Enter the temperature for day ' + (i + 1));
temperatures.push(parseFloat(temperature));

One small adjustment that needs to be made is setting the high and low values inside the loop before any inputs have been added to the temperatures array. This aspect will need to be revisited.

Prior to tackling the average temperature calculation, let's address finding the sum of all values. The iterative nature of our loop allows us to accumulate these values as we progress through each input. Here's how:

var temperatures = [];
var total = 0;
var high;
var low;
var avg;

for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    // Capture, parse, and append temperature to temperatures array
    var temperature = prompt('Enter the temperature for day ' + (i + 1));
    temperatures.push(parseFloat(temperature));

    // Add current temperature to total sum
    total += temperature;
}

As for determining the highest and lowest temperatures, your recent question update code would cause the high and low values to reset with every iteration of the loop, resulting in inaccurate comparisons. To rectify this, consider initializing high and low to extreme values, guaranteeing user-entered temperatures will always surpass or fall beneath them. For instance:

var high = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
var low = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;

During each loop iteration, utilize your existing logic to compare the present temperature against the previous high and low values. Here's how:

var temperatures = [];
var total = 0;
var high = Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
var low = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
var avg;

for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    // Capture, parse, and append temperature to temperatures array
    var temperature = prompt('Enter the temperature for day ' + (i + 1));
    temperatures.push(parseFloat(temperature));

    // Add current temperature to total sum
    total += temperature;

    // Compare high and low temperatures
    if (high < temperature) high = temperature;
    if (low > temperature) low = temperature;
}

Concluding Step:

If desired, there's room for further enhancements in this code. However, such improvements may extend beyond the initial question scope.

To explore potential enhancements, consider utilizing functions like Math.min(), Math.max(), and apply(). If interested, I can furnish additional code snippets demonstrating how these functions can aid in determining high and low temperatures, along with employing Array.prototype.reduce for calculating averages.

Answer 3

Answer №2

In order to properly set values in alltemp, you must ensure that they are assigned based on certain conditions. Here is a demonstration of how this can be achieved (using a for loop, although there are more efficient methods available): https://jsfiddle.net/wvajgtdx/

var numbers = [5, 23, 11, 65, 9, 32],
    highest = lowest = nums[0];

for(var j = 0; j < numbers.length; j++) {
    highest = Math.max(highest, numbers[j]);
    lowest = Math.min(lowest, numbers[j]);
}

alert("The highest number is " + highest);
alert("The lowest number is " + lowest);

Answer 4

In order to properly set values in alltemp, you must ensure that they are assigned based on certain conditions. Here is a demonstration of how this can be achieved (using a for loop, although there are more efficient methods available): https://jsfiddle.net/wvajgtdx/

var numbers = [5, 23, 11, 65, 9, 32],
    highest = lowest = nums[0];

for(var j = 0; j < numbers.length; j++) {
    highest = Math.max(highest, numbers[j]);
    lowest = Math.min(lowest, numbers[j]);
}

alert("The highest number is " + highest);
alert("The lowest number is " + lowest);

Discovering the minimum/maximum value within an array by iterating through each element

Answer №1

Answer №2

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