Finding smallest number in a for loop with a range using Python

Question

First off, I am using python. Ok, so I need to print the smallest float found after iterating through this for loop. I have tried using min() and I get an error saying that the 'float' object is not iterable. I cannot figure out another way to print out the smallest number or for it to accept all the floats so I can use the min() function. Any help would be appreciated. Here is my code:

def decryption():
    alphabet=["a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j","k","l","m","n","o","p","q","r","s","t","u","v","w","x","y","z"]    
    phrase=input('What would you like decrypted?')
    number=0
    for number in range(0,26):
        e=0+number
        t=0+number
        o=0+number
        a=0+number
        i=0+number
        n=0+number
        for letter in phrase:
            if letter== 'e':
                e+=1 
            if letter== 't':
                t+=1
            if letter== 'o':
                o+=1
            if letter== 'a':
                a+=1
            if letter== 'i':
                i+=1
            if letter== 'n':
                n+=1        
        e_freq= .1119-e/10
        e_ans= e_freq*e_freq

        t_freq= .0928-t/10
        t_ans= t_freq*t_freq

        o_freq= .0819-o/10
        o_ans= o_freq*o_freq

        a_freq= .0754-a/10
        a_ans= a_freq*a_freq

        i_freq= .0710-i/10
        i_ans= i_freq*i_freq

        n_freq= .0643-n/10
        n_ans= n_freq*n_freq

        square_sum= e_ans+t_ans+o_ans+a_ans+i_ans+n_ans

Answer 1

The min function takes as its argument a list of numbers. So you would need to create an array of all the numbers you want to search through, and then you could use min . (Actually, as the error says, it takes an iterable, which is more generic than a list)

Another way to do this is to keep track of smallest one you have seen so far, and do a check at the end of each iteration.

if smallest_seen > square_sum:
    smallest_seen = square_sum

Then, at the end of your loop, smallest_seen will be the minimum value out of all the calculated square_sum values.

Here is a more complete example.

import sys                                                              
import random                                                           

smallest_seen = sys.float_info.max                                      

for i in range(26):                                                     
    some_num = random.random()                                          
    if smallest_seen > some_num:                                        
        smallest_seen = some_num                                        

print(smallest_seen)