Hello everyone.
I'm kinf of a newbie with pascal. I was reading a book the other day and
one of the exercises they sugested was writing an algorithm that selects
the heaviest student in a class. Perhaps I'm facing a mental block but I
can't figure it out. Can anyone help me on this one??Pleeeeeease.....
Pls reply by mail to

Hello everyone.
I'm kinf of a newbie with pascal. I was reading a book the other day and
one of the exercises they sugested was writing an algorithm that selects
the heaviest student in a class. Perhaps I'm facing a mental block but I
can't figure it out. Can anyone help me on this one??Pleeeeeease.....
Pls reply by mail , too.

sincerely
P.P.

   Oh, P.S- I just read tha article of that other novice and just for
you not to think I haven't done my homework here's the catch.
1- suppose i have three students in my class would the following program
work. If it would, then why doesn't it?:)

program pesos;
var i, A, B, C, :integer;

BEGIN
writeln ('enter weight nr 1');
readln (A);
writeln ('...nr 2');
readln (B);
writeln ('nr 3');
readln (C);
if (A>B) and if (A>C) then writeln ('the heaviest is A');
if (B>A) and if (B>C) then writeln ('the heaviest is B');
if (C>A) and if (C>B) then writeln ('the heaviest is  C');
END.

2) what if my class has n students , i.e. i dono the number os students
and have to ask the operator....??

once again thanx for any help you've got!
P.P.

Try posting your code, so we will be able to tell you what you are doing
wrong.

--
Ken Robbins
puyrebel <AT> prodigy <DOT> net

"If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked
something."
-- Murphy's Eighth Law

[snip]

Well, what you could do is at the beginning have it ask for the # of students,
and then a readln(num), and then some code like this:

temp :=0
for I:=1 to num do
begin
writeln('Enter weight #',I)
readln(weight)
if weight > temp then
temp:=weight
end
writeln('Heaviest person weighs',temp,'pounds')

Well, that might help you.

Noah

-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you're asking why your source code won't compile, the answer
is an incorrect IF-THEN syntax.  If the question deals with
incorrect results, no meaningful comments are possible without
knowing what those results are and what they were expected to be.

Saying that you can't figure out an algorithm and then providing
source code you have written is a contradiction.  You cannot
produce source code without having some kind of algorithm.  In
fact, the algorithm must come first and should be independent of
the language being used.

Assuming each student's weight is different from all other
students' weights, one possible algorithm is:

   1. Place the students in a single line
   2. Take a piece of paper and write down the name and weight of
      the heaviest known student.  Since no one has been weighed
      yet, you could write something like "NO ONE  -  0 lbs".
   3. Weigh the first student in line.  If his/her weight is
      greater than the weight you have written down, erase what
      you have written and replace it with the name and weight of
      the student just weighed.
   4. Repeat step 3 using the the 2nd student and then the 3rd,
      etc.
   5. When all the students have been weighed, the paper will
      have the name and weight of the heaviest student written on
      it.

Now all you have to do is implement the algorithm in the computer
language of your choice, which is what you're supposed to be
learning in class.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Derek Asari
eq...@cleveland.freenet.edu

     The problem here is not understanding how IF works.  The syntax
for IF is
   IF <logical test>
    THEN <statement>

     The lines you have above do NOT follow this syntax.  For example,

   IF (B > A) AND <ifstatement>

where <ifstatement> is "if (A>C) then writeln ('the heaviest is A')".
Unfortunately, "(B > A) AND <ifstatement>" is not a proper logical test.
However, "B > A) AND (A > C)" is proper.  Try taking the second "if"
out and see if that helps.

     Well, here again is where doing the experiment "in your head" would
help.  Suppose I ask you to tell me the weight of the heaviest student
in your class, or even in your school.  How would you do it, assuming
you could ask each student his/her weight?  One way would be to write
down all of the weights (which is the solution method you've chosen),
in which case you need to store an unspecified number of variables.
However, if all I want is the weight of the heaviest, I don't need to
store any weights (except the heaviest!), nor do I need to know how many
students I'll have (except to know it is > 0, i.e. at least 1).  Can
you see how to do it?  Try asking "Amy, how much do you weight?  Betty,
how much do you weight?  Charlie, how much do you weight?" and, without
having to remember all three weights, come up with the heaviest.  [I
dare say, if you actually ask those questions, you are likely to get
your face slapped ...].

Bob Schor
Pascal Enthusiast

In article <371A0D26.7C07F...@vms.cis.pitt.edu>,
  Bob Schor <bsc...@vms.cis.pitt.edu> wrote:
[snip]
That's good, Bob.  I would have tried to store all the weights and sort them.
But you're right.  If all that is needed is the one weight and name, why store
all the others?
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Guys....you can't believe how much you helped me. This is a very simple
problem (know that I know the solution:))
Thank you very much. But I have the feeling it won't be the last time
you'll hear (read would be more appropriated) from me :))
P.P.