Why is this function not returning the correct number from the array-CodePudding

This function is selecting -70 for the min as expected, but it is selecting 43 for the max when it should be selecting 54 as the max. Instead of getting 124 as expected, I am only getting 113. Any insight would be much appreciated.

def difference_max_min(lst):
    minn = lst[0]
    maxx = lst[0]
    for i in range(0, len(lst)):
        if lst[i] < minn:
            minn = lst[i]
        if lst[i] > maxx:
            maxx = lst[i]
            print(minn)
            print(maxx)
            return maxx - minn


print(difference_max_min([-70, 43, 34, 54, 22]))

I could probably do this easier by sorting the list and just taking the first and last indexes and subtracting them that way, but I can't for the life of me understand why this way is not working.

P.S. the prints are only in there because I was trying to troubleshoot the issue.

CodePudding user response：

Indentation issue:

def difference_max_min(lst):
    minn = lst[0]
    maxx = lst[0]
    for i in range(0, len(lst)):
        if lst[i] < minn:
            minn = lst[i]
        if lst[i] > maxx:
            maxx = lst[i]
    print(minn)
    print(maxx)
    return maxx - minn


print(difference_max_min([-70, 43, 34, 54, 22]))

Just to help a bit, try to run a debugger to go through the code. I would ask you to look into the pdb. This would be helpful in debugging these situations.

CodePudding user response：

Put the return statement outside the if statement. Otherwise you return the difference when your program finds an element that is bigger than maxx the first time.