How to enter multiple values without some sort of array

Question

So basically I'm taking an intro tp programming class and we've been taught the basics (loops, if statements, variable types etc.) I'm solving a program where I have to ask the user to enter 6 different temperature values, and then print out the maximum, average and range of the 6 values.

How and where should I store these 6 numbers?

cout<< "Enter 6 diff numbers" << endl;
float numbers;
cin >> numbers;

for ( .... i_++)

max = ;
min = ;


cout << .. << .... << endl;

//This should not help because float can only keep one number stored and not 6. How should I do this without using any sort of arrays, functions etc. ?

I was thinking using substrings and declaring it like a string or something??

Thanks for all your help.

Answer 1

I'm putting up the basic algorithm you can use without using arrays. Assuming everything in Kelvin.

float max = 0; // Minimum Value Set for comparing with larger values
float min;
float sum = 0;
float avg = 0;
float tmp;
string number, alltheNumbers;
for( int i = 0; i < 6; i++ ){
   cin>>number;
   tmp = <float> number;
   if( tmp > max ){
      max = tmp;
   }
   sum += tmp;
   alltheNumbers += ',' + number; // Save all the numbers in comma seperated Strings
}
min = max;    // Maximum Found value set for finding minimum
std::string delimiter = ",";
size_t pos = 0;
while ((pos = alltheNumbers.find(delimiter)) != std::string::npos) {
    number = alltheNumbers.substr(0, pos); // Use the comma to retrieve all those numbers
    tmp = <float> number;
    if( tmp < min ){
      min = tmp;
    }
    alltheNumbers.erase(0, pos + delimiter.length());
}
avg = sum / 6;

So, You have the following variables with the required data.

max <- will have the maximum value
min <- will have the minimum value
avg <- will have the average value.

Answer 2

This is one way to do it without arrays without spoiling the rest of your homework.

cout<< "Enter 6 different numbers" << endl;

float num1, num2, num3, num4, num5, num6, max, min, sum, avg;

cin >> num1 >> num2 >> num3 >> 
       num4 >> num5 >> num6;

Goodluck!

Answer 3

An improvement on @Zion's the first answer, I think initializing the min and max to the first digit should suffice. Before the for loop input number, then set max = number and min = number and then start for loop from i=1.