Thread: The nth highest number from a list

Ok so this is a program where the user inputs a bunch of numbers and the program finds the nth highest number from the list, the nth number is specified by the user.

This program works like this: user enters numbers and all the numbers are added into a list. Then the user enter the "nth" highest number they want. then it enters a loop and executes the loop "nth" times. Each time, the highest number in the list is deleted using the .remove() method. after the loop, the program finds the highest number of what ever is left in the list and prints it.

But for some reason, this program just finds the second highest number. Could anyone please help?

Here is the code:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

import java.util.*;
 
public class nthHighest {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		List<Double> numbers = new ArrayList<Double>();
		Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
		System.out.println("How many numbers do you want to input");
		int howMuch = input.nextInt(); // how many numbers the user want to input
		double num = 0;
		for (int a = 1; a <= howMuch; a++) {
			num = input.nextDouble();
			numbers.add(num);//the numbers are added to the list
		}
		System.out.println("The nth highest number you want to find :");
		int nth = input.nextInt();//the highest number user wants to find
		int se;
		double highest = numbers.get(0);
		double nthHighest = 0;
		int size = numbers.size();
		se = 1;
		for (int h = 1; h <= nth; h++) {
			for (; se < size; se++) {
				if (numbers.get(se) > highest) {
					highest = numbers.get(se);
				}
			}
			numbers.remove(highest);//removes the highest number from the list
			size = numbers.size();
			se = 0;
		}
		nthHighest = numbers.get(0);
			for (int q = 0; q < numbers.size();q++){//find the nth highest number
				if (numbers.get(q) > nthHighest )
					nthHighest = numbers.get(q);
				System.out.print(" " + numbers.get(q));
			}
			System.out.println();
		System.out.println ("the " + nth + "th highest number is " + nthHighest);
	}
}

You will probably want to use a List so you can use sorting. This will give you a list of values from low to high, simply indicate the nth greatest value you wish to retrieve. It is simple and clean this way:

...removed by moderator

hackthisred, welcome to the forums. Please read the forum rules, and I recommend reading as well the following:
http://www.javaprogrammingforums.com...n-feeding.html

Thanks for the insight, but the member had already solved their question; I was merely showing another method of accomplishing the exact same task in cleaner syntax.

Originally Posted by hackthisred

Thanks for the insight, but the member had already solved their question; I was merely showing another method of accomplishing the exact same task in cleaner syntax.

I am not demoting your contribution above whatsoever. I am stating the rules of the forums, and if you read the link I would hope you would understand the rule, what we might consider spoon feeding, why it is bad, why your code was removed, and why we prefer to point folks in a certain direction rather than giving them the endpoint - the latter denies them the journey (which is one of the biggest tools to learn in programming - problem solving).