Need help finding the smallest number and ending the program with -1

Question

This is what I got:

H = int(input("Enter a number or enter -1 to end)"))
smallest = H

counter=0
while(True):
    number = int(input("Enter a number: "))
    if(number == -1):
        break

    if(number < H):
        smallest = number
    print(number, "is the smallest")

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

It appears your question suffered some format issues but I get what you're asking. Really, you're asking the user to "Enter a number (or -1 to end):" repeatedly and finding the smallest.

With that in mind, I put the first time you prompt the user into the loop also. Keep in mind:

• 'None' is Python's way of saying not yet set.
• You have to test for 'None' first
• It helps you identify when you enter -1 right off the bat.

So here's a solution similar to yours:

number = None
smallest = None

while(True): 
    number = int(input("Enter a whole number (or -1 to end): ")) 
    
    if(number == -1): 
        break 
    
    if smallest == None or number < smallest:
        smallest = number
        

if smallest == None:
    print ("No number entered.")
else:
    print(smallest, "is the smallest")