aList = [504, 483, 416, 358, 332, 275, 235, 189, 221, 132, 131, 213, 269,
         262, 249, 245, 264, 313, 384, 268]


aNewList = [ 0, 5, 11]


#this function finds the largest item in a list, and returns it.
def returnLargest( aList):
    currentLargest = aList[0]

    for item in aList:
        if (currentLargest < item):
            currentLargest = item

    return( currentLargest)
    
    

#this function finds the smallest item in a list, and returns it.
def returnSmallest( aList):
    currentSmallest = aList[0]

    for item in aList:
        if (currentSmallest > item):
            currentSmallest = item

    return( currentSmallest)
    
    
   

# This function calculates the average of a non-empty list of
# numbers.  It has undefined results for lists of non-numbers and
# empty lists.

aValue = returnSmallest( aList)
print "smallest is:", aValue









def averageLight( aList):
    if (len(aList) < 1):
        print "Error: Empty list!"
        return None
    
    mySum = 0
    for item in aList:
        mySum = mySum + item
    print "Sum is:", mySum
    print "number of items is:", len( aList)

    print "Average is:",  float(mySum) / len(aList)


#averageLight( anotherList)