Beginner Python Help

Fri Mar 18 03:50:38 EDT 2016

Greetings Alan and welcome to Python,
>I just started out python and I was doing a activity where im 
>trying to find the max and min of a list of numbers i inputted.
>>This is my code..
>>num=input("Enter list of numbers")
>list1=(num.split())
>>maxim= (max(list1))
>minim= (min(list1))
>>print(minim, maxim)
>>So the problem is that when I enter numbers with an uneven amount 
>of digits (e.g. I enter 400 20 36 85 100) I do not get 400 as the 
>maximum nor 20 as the minimum. What have I done wrong in the code?

I will make a few points, as will probably a few others who read 
your posting.
 * [to answer your question] the builtin function called input [0]
 returns a string, but you are trying to get the min() and max() 
 of numbers; therefore you must convert your strings to numbers
 You can determine if Python thinks the variable is a string or 
 a number in two ways (the interactive prompt is a good place to
 toy with these things). Let's look at a string:
 >>> s = '200 elephants'
 >>> type(s) # what type is s?
 <class 'str'> # oh! it's a string
 >>> s # what's in s?
 '200 elephants' # value in quotation marks!
 The quotation marks are your clue that this is a string, not a 
 number; in addition to seeing the type. OK, so what about a 
 number, then? (Of course, there are different kinds of numbers, 
 complex, real, float...but I'll stick with an integer here.)
 >>> n = 42
 >>> type(n) # what type is n?
 <class 'int'> # ah, it's an int (integer)
 >>> n # what's in n?
 42 # the value
 * Now, perhaps clearer? max(['400', '20', '36', '85', '100'])
 is sorting your list of strings lexicographically instead of 
 numerically (as numbers); in the same way that the string 
 'rabbit' sorts later than 'elephant', so too does '85' sort 
 later than '400'
 * it is not illegal syntax to use parentheses as you have, but you
 are using too many in your assignment lines; I'd recommend 
 dropping that habit before you start; learn when parentheses are 
 useful (creating tuples, calling functions, clarifying 
 precedence); do not use them here:
 list1 = (num.split()) # -- extraneous and possibly confusing
 list1 = num.split() # -- just right
 * also, there is also Tutor mailing list [1] devoted to helping 
 with Python language acquisition (discussions on this main list 
 can sometimes be more involved than many beginners wish to read)
I notice that you received several answers already, but I'll finish 
this reply and put your sample program back together for you:
 num = input("Enter list of numbers: ")
 list1 = list(map(int, num.split()))
 print(list1)
 maxim = max(list1)
 minim = min(list1)
 print(minim, maxim)
You may notice that map [2] function in there. If you don't 
understand it, after reading the function description, I'd give you 
this example for loop that produces the same outcome.
 list1 = list()
 for n in num.split():
 list1.append(int(n))
The map function is quite useful, so it's a good one to learn early.
Good luck,
-Martin
 [0] https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#input
 [1] https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor/
 [2] https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#map
-- 
Martin A. Brown
http://linux-ip.net/