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JavaScript JavaScript Basics (Retired) Creating Reusable Code with Functions Create a max() Function

Posted by Dwayne Sauls
Dwayne Sauls
1,279 Points

I have inserted everything it asked.

Help please

script.js 
function max(2,3){
  if (2 > 3){
  }
  return max();
);

3 Answers

Jennifer Nordell
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Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
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Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Hi there! I'm going to try giving some hints.

Your function should accept two parameters coming in which are variable names inside this scope. That means that you may not use any name starting with a number as it's not a valid Javascript variable name. Your function must be more generic than you are trying to make it. You are currently attempting to hard code the 2 and 3 as the numbers to be compared. This will not work.

Secondly, you have an if statement set up to compare two numbers. But this statement should be comparing the values of the two variables set up in the parameter list in the declaration of the function. Also, it's missing any statement to say what happens if the first variable is greater than the second. It's here that you'd want to return the value of the first variable.

Third, this challenge will also require an else statement which is missing from your code. This is to say what happens if the first variable is not greater than the second. If it isn't it should return the second variable's value.

Fourth, you are trying to return a call to the function, but this will cause a recursion error. At this point you have a function that's returning a call to itself.

Fifth, you have an extraneous semicolon at the end of the function outside the curly braces.

I hope you can get it with these hints, but please let me know if you're still stuck! :sparkles:

Dwayne Sauls
Dwayne Sauls
1,279 Points

Hi Thanks for the input. Jennifer Nordell

It says the max function is not returning a number. ///// function max(firstNum,SecNum){ if (firstNum > SecNum){ return firstNum();
console.log('It is greater than the second variable'); } else { console.log('It is not greater than the second variable'); } } console.log(max(4,9)); ///////

Dwayne Sauls
Dwayne Sauls
1,279 Points
Dwayne Sauls
Dwayne Sauls
1,279 Points

Thanks. Jennifer Nordell

I have a question. What did u mean by.

"If you're simply returning the value of a variable, the parentheses are not needed."

By what u said. The parentheses is not needed so I didnt have to insert them in there at all and just use them in the conditional statement.

Jennifer Nordell
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.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

You typed this in your code above:

return firstNum();

What you should have typed was:

return firstNum;

The first variant tries to run the firstNum variable as a function, but it isn't a function. This will actually produce a TypeError and say that the firstNum is not callable. The parentheses after that firstNum indicate that this is a function/method to be called/executed.

The second variant returns the value stored in the variable firstNum.

Here are examples of function calls:

console.log("Hi there!");  //this calls the log method on the console object and passes a string
alert("Dwayne!");  //this invokes the alert function and passes in the string "Dwayne"
max(2, 100);  //this runs your max function that you just defined and passes in the numbers 2 and 100

Note the parentheses used to call/invoke/execute a function. A set of empty parentheses simply means that you're calling a function that has no parameters and so takes no arguments. So when you said firstNum(); JavaScript starts trying to run firstNum as a function, which isn't possible.

Hope this helps! :sparkles:

edited for technical correctness

Jennifer Nordell
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STAFF
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Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Hi there! No it's not returning a number. But you're much closer than you were! So I'm going to use your own variable names and show you what it's looking for.

function max(firstNum, secondNum){
  if(firstNum > secondNum){
    return firstNum;
  } else {
    return secondNum;
  }
}

Remember that the parentheses indicate a call to a function/method. If you're simply returning the value of a variable, the parentheses are not needed.

Here we set up a function named max. It takes two numbers. If the first number is greater than the second number, we return the value of the first number. Otherwise, we return the value of the second number.

Hope this clarifies things! :sparkles:

edited for additional note

Also, console.log is not required by either step of the challenge and could actually cause the challenge to break. Try not to do anything the challenge doesn't explicitly ask for.