Most efficient/elegant way to clip a number?

Question

Given a real (n), a maximum value this real can be (upper), and a minimum value this real can be (lower), how can we most efficiently clip n, such that it remains between lower and upper? Of course, using a bunch of if statements can do this, but that's boring! What about more compact and elegant/fun solutions? My own quick attempt (C/C++): float clip( float n, float lower, float upper ) { n = ( n > lower ) * n + !( n > lower ) * lower; return ( n < upper ) * n + !( n < upper ) * upper; } I'm sure there are other, better ways to do this, that's why I'm putting this out there..!

Answer 1

I would just do something like this:

function clip(n, lower, upper)

{

n = max(lower, n);

n = min(n, upper);

return n;

}

(Most software languages implement highly optimized min and max functions.)

Answer 2

inline float clip ( float n, float lower, float upper)

{

return( std::max( lower, std::min(upper,n)));

}