Is the complexity of this problem actually worth effort? Where is a similar example?

Question about the task

Minimum of four numbers

Java Syntax, Level 2, Lesson 8

Under discussion

Write a function that computes the minimum of four numbers.
The function min(a, b, c, d) should use (call) the function min(a, b)

Hint:
You need to write the body of the two existing min functions.

Requirements:

The program should display text on the screen.
The min methods should not display text on the screen.
The main method should call min(a, b) and min(a, b, c, d).
The main method should display the result of the min methods. Each time, on a new line.
The min(a, b) method must return the minimum of the numbers a and b.
The min(a, b, c, d) method must use the min(a, b) method.
The min(a, b, c, d) method must return the minimum of the numbers a, b, c, and d.

package com.codegym.task.task02.task0217; /* Minimum of four numbers */ public class Solution { public static int min(int a, int b, int c, int d) { //write your code here int _min = 0; if (a < b) _min = a; if (b < a) _min = b; // if (a < b && b < c && c < d) _min = a; //if (b < a && a < c && c < d) _min = b; //if (c < d && d < a && a < b) _min = a; // if (a < c && c < b && b < d) _min = a; // if (c < a && a < b && b < d) _min = b; //if (c < b && b < a && a < d) _min = a; if (c < a && a < b && b < d) _min = c; if (d < a && a < b && b < c) _min = d; return _min; } public static int min(int a, int b) { //write your code here int _min = 0; if (a < b) _min = a; if (b < a) _min = b; return _min; } public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { System.out.println(min(-20, -10)); System.out.println(min(-20, -10, -30, -40)); System.out.println(min(-20, -10, -30, 40)); System.out.println(min(-40, -10, -30, 40)); } }

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Guadalupe Gagnon

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

4 February 2020, 17:15

I would recommend breaking this problem down into parts and then solving the parts. Part 1: "min(int a, int b)" how to return the minimum of two numbers? By checking if a is less than b then checking if b is less than a your code misses a whole other situation: when a and b are equal. In that case the code above would return 0 and that would be incorrect. Using an if statement to compare the two numbers you can determine if a is less than b. What would the logical conclusion if that statement returns false? That would mean that b has to be less than or equal to a. So either return the value of a if a is less than b, or return the value of b otherwise.

Guadalupe Gagnon

Level 37 , Tampa, United States

4 February 2020, 17:22

Step 2: Use that same logic above to solve the min(int a, int b, int c, int d) method. The reason that programmers use methods is to remove redundancy of code. I think of methods as a way to insert a snippet of code. For a simple example:

public static void main(String[] args) {
        int i = 0;
        for(; i < 10; i++){
            System.out.println(i);
        }

        for(; i < 20; i++){
            System.out.println(i);
        }

        for(; i < 30; i++){
            System.out.println(i);
        }
    }

is the same as this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
       print(0,10);
       print(10,20);
       print(20,30);
}

public static void print(int start,int len){
   for(; start < len; start++){
      System.out.println(start);
   }
}

Richard Morris

Level 3 , Pittsburgh, United States

4 February 2020, 15:34

Not happy with this problem. It appears to discourage.