# Introduction

Every letter in the English alphabet can be represented as an ASCII code. For example, a is 97, and S is 83. As we all know, the formula for averaging two numbers $$\x\$$ and $$\y\$$ is $$\\frac{x+y}{2}\$$. I'm pretty sure you can see where this is going. Your challenge is to average two letters.

# Challenge

Your program must take two letters as input, and output the average of the ASCII values in it. If the average is a decimal, you should truncate it.

• Input will always be two ASCII letters. You can assume they will always be valid, but the case may vary. Basically, both letters will be in the range 97-122 or 65-90. The second letter will always have a greater ASCII value than the first. If your language has no method of input, you may take input from command line arguments or from a variable.
• You must output the ASCII character signified by the average of the two numbers. As stated above, it should always be truncated to 0 decimal places. If your language has no method of output, you may store it in a variable. Exit codes and return values are considered valid output methods.

# Example I/O

• Input: A, C
Output: B
• Input: a, z
Output: m
• Input: d, j
Output: g
• Input: B, e
Output: S
• Input: Z, a
Output: ]

# Rules

This is , so shortest answer in bytes wins!

• Please specify whether, for example, B e is a valid input. – Greg Martin Nov 10 '19 at 19:53
• Why is the output of the last example U? The value of B is 66 and the value of e is 101, which averages to 83.5, truncated to 83, which corresponds to S – Matthew Jensen Nov 10 '19 at 23:05
• If that example is correct, it will invalidate all of the existing answers. – user85052 Nov 11 '19 at 10:05
• Sorry. I read an ASCII table wrong and got 69 for B, not 66. – sugarfi Nov 11 '19 at 14:00
• Could I enter for a non-ASCII compliant system? – Shaun Bebbers Nov 25 '19 at 17:28

# C# (Visual C# Interactive Compiler), 20 bytes

a=>b=>(char)(a+b>>1)


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# x86-16 machine code, IBM PC DOS, 1312 10 bytes

Binary (xxd):

00000000: a182 0002 c4d0 e8cd 29c3            ..........


Listing:

A1 0082     MOV  AX, [0082H]    ; load two chars into AH and AL from command line
02 C4       ADD  AL, AH         ; AL = AL + AH
D0 E8       SHR  AL, 1          ; AL = AL / 2
CD 29       INT  29H            ; write to console


Standalone PC DOS executable. Input is via command line, output to console.

Example:

• Only 5 bytes if written as a function :-) – Cody Gray Nov 12 '19 at 18:57
• @CodyGray only 4 bytes as a snippet or a MACRO. Not sure where the "line" is though... :) – 640KB Nov 13 '19 at 17:22
• Functions are always permitted, as are full programs, per house code golfing rules. Not sure about macros, though; interesting suggestion. Although avoiding that 1-byte RET is probably not going to be enough to make a difference most of the time... – Cody Gray Nov 14 '19 at 0:53

# Jelly, 4 bytes

OSHỌ


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# Explanation

OSHỌ  Main Link: takes (a, b)
O     (ord(a), ord(b))
S    sum; ord(a) + ord(b)
H   halve; (ord(a) + ord(b)) / 2
Ọ  chr


# J, 17 bytes

(+/<.@%#)&.(3&u:)


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• (+/<.@%#) truncated average...
• &. "Under", which applies a transform, then the verb it modifies -- truncated avg in this case -- then the inverse transform....
• 3&u: convert to ascii byte integer.

That is, it converts each letter to its ascii number, gets the truncated average of those, and applies the inverse of "convert to ascii number", which takes an ascii number and returns a letter.

# Poetic, 163 bytes

software inside a computer
a robot+a man+a keypad+a plan=a PC
still,P.C.this,P.C.that?i await a day i crush a PC
i do Linux,i suppose


Try it online!

Poetic is an esolang I made in 2018 for a class project. It's basically brainfuck with word-lengths instead of symbols.

(I actually use PC myself. 😉)

• Love the idea of this language. – Jonah Nov 12 '19 at 21:55

# Ruby, 22 bytes

->a,b{""<<(a+b).sum/2}


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• Huh. TIL the functionality of str << int. – Value Ink Nov 11 '19 at 22:54

# R, 56 37 bytes

intToUtf8(mean(utf8ToInt(scan(,""))))


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Description

• intToUtf8() converts the average into its ASCII character.

• mean() takes the average which is automatically truncated.

• utf8ToInt() converts the inputs into two ASCII numbers.

• scan() allows inputs.

• Welcome to CGCC! A few tips: 1. You can use an anonymous function, so don't need the f=; 2. You don't need print; 3. In this case, it is actually shorter to take input with scan that to define a function; 4. floor is not needed: if you feed a non-integer numeric to intToUtf8, R truncates it automatically before converting to character. Also, TIO must have been experiencing issues when you tried it; the base package is included. All in all, your solution can be shortened to 37 bytes. – Robin Ryder Nov 10 '19 at 17:43
• @RobinRyder Thanks for the reduction! – TheSimpliFire Nov 10 '19 at 19:15

# Keg-ir-oc, 5 2 bytes (SBCS)

Works in all 3 test cases.

+½


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# Explanation

-ir will *not* try to evaluate the input
½  Halve the value
-oc Output all as a character, if possible

Implicit print. The output is print nice by default.
$$$$

• Loading issue. I just tried the first test case and it didn't error.(I got to clone the most recent Keg interpreter.) – user85052 Nov 9 '19 at 14:36
• Using -ir and -oc will allow this two byter: +½ – Lyxal Nov 9 '19 at 21:12
• What a great solution. I think we cannot go shorter. – stephanmg Nov 11 '19 at 9:11

# K (oK), 8 bytes

Solution:

c$.5*+/  Try it online! Explanation: Sum, multiply by 0.5 and convert to ASCII. c$.5*+/ / the solution
.5*   / multiply by 0.5
c$/ convert to ASCII  # Bash, 56 bytes printf \\x$(printf %x $[printf "(%d+%d)/2" \'$1 \'$2])  Try it online! • 1) The outer pair of quotes is needed only because the \x, so better escape just that single character; 2) The deprecated $[..] is shorter for arithmetic evaluation; 3) The old .. is shorter for subcommand, except when needs escaping; 4) The inner pairs of quotes are needed only because of ', so better escape just those characters. Try it online! – manatwork Nov 11 '19 at 11:29
• @manatwork: Do you want to post this as an answer? Or should I edit my post? – stephanmg Nov 11 '19 at 11:38
• Feel free to edit your post. Is mostly your work. I didn't had the patience this time to juggle with the printfs. – manatwork Nov 11 '19 at 11:47
• You have an error in the version posted here: the closing " should be on the left side of the nearby space to avoid touching the next argument's first character, the \. (The TIO code is correct though.) – manatwork Nov 11 '19 at 15:14
• @manatwork: Thanks for pointing me to this. – stephanmg Nov 11 '19 at 15:21

# Shakespeare Programming Language, 144 bytes

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/.Ajax,.Puck,.Act I:.Scene I:.[Enter Ajax and Puck]
Ajax:Open mind.
Puck:Open mind.
You is the quotient betweenthe sum ofyou I a big cat.
Speak thy.


Simple enough, just finds the average. ASCII characters and numbers are identical in SPL, so this language was ideal for the task.

# dzaima/APL, 11 bytes

(+/÷≢)⍢⎕UCS


Try it online! dzaima/APLs ⎕UCS - convert to/from char currently ignores the fractional part of the given number, so no floor is necessary.

# Befunge-98 (PyFunge), 7 bytes

~~+2/,@


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# Python 2, 31 bytes

lambda*A:chr(sum(map(ord,A))/2)


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# jq, 23 characters

[explode|add/2]|implode


Sample run:

bash-5.0$jq -Rr '[explode|add/2]|implode' <<< 'AC' B  Try it online! # Excel, 28 bytes =CHAR((CODE(A1)+CODE(B1))/2)  # Lua, 42 41 bytes a=...print(a.char(a:byte()+a:byte(2)>>1))  Try it online! Removed 1 byte using ouflak's method of taking input as a single command line argument. Takes input as a single command line argument of two characters. Uses the convenient operator precedence of >>. Note that this is actually a full standalone Lua 5.3 program, because command line arguments are accessible as a top-level vararg. • You beat me: print(string.char((io.read():byte()+io.read():byte())/2)). – stephanmg Nov 11 '19 at 9:30 • Thanks to your tip on my answer, I think I just figured out how to save 1 byte on yours. – ouflak Nov 11 '19 at 14:46 # Julia 1.0, 26 bytes a\b=Char(sum(Int[a,b])÷2)  TIO was timing out for me, so only tested at REPL. Try it online! • "You must output the ASCII character signified by the average of the two numbers". Shouldn't your output be a single ASCII character? – ouflak Nov 12 '19 at 16:58 • Thanks for catching that, fixed. – gggg Nov 12 '19 at 17:42 # Python 2, 33 32 bytes -1B from Embodiment of Ignorance using bit ops. Exactly as specified. For a Python 3 answer change the / into //. lambda a,b:chr(ord(a)+ord(b)>>1)  Try it online! • This could be just /2 in Python 2. – Arnauld Nov 9 '19 at 14:18 • I mean, this way. – Arnauld Nov 9 '19 at 14:24 • I see, I thought the complete function body can be turned into /2. – user85052 Nov 9 '19 at 14:25 • You can save 2 bytes with lambda*s:chr(sum(map(ord,s))/2) – Uri Granta Nov 9 '19 at 15:42 • Nice golfing, but now it is an almost exact duplicate of this answer. (The names of the parameters are changed.) – user85052 Nov 9 '19 at 23:38 # Lua, 63 60 bytes s=io.read()print(s.char(math.floor((s:byte()+s:byte(2))/2)))  Takes the two letters with no delimeters, i.e. AB, j$, |1, etc....

Try it online!

Saved 3 bytes thanks to PhillipRoman

• There are shorter Lua solutions. They look also interesting, @outflak. – stephanmg Nov 11 '19 at 9:45
• @ouflak I'd like to clarify that my solution is a full standalone Lua 5.3 program, because command line arguments are always accessible as a top-level vararg – PhilipRoman Nov 11 '19 at 13:26
• @PhilipRoman, So what TIO is doing is virtually running a command line Lua 'shell' and passing in the arguments appropriately? Interesting.... – ouflak Nov 11 '19 at 14:09
• @PhilipRoman, I assumed naturally that that's what you were doing. I was pondering how TIO did it. Somehow they have to emulate "lua myscript.lua a z". – ouflak Nov 11 '19 at 14:23
• @ouflak Ah, sorry, I misunderstood you. Yeah, the fact that TIO shows the time taken just like the linux "time" command, seems to indicate that there is indeed a real shell involved. – PhilipRoman Nov 11 '19 at 14:26

# MarioLANG, 63 bytes

,
)
,
>[!(>[!
"=#="=#
- ( >
) ( + -
!+< ) [
#=" !-<)
#=".


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Super golfable, I'm sure - not really able to think in MarioLANG yet. Calculates $$\\lfloor\frac{x+y}{2}\rfloor\$$.

# Zsh, 33 31 characters

a=({$1..$2} 0)
echo ${a[$#a/2]}


This one does no character code conversion.

Sample run:

manatwork ~ % set -- A C

manatwork ~ % a=({$1..$2} 0);echo ${a[$#a/2]}
B


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• Very clever use of brace expansion! I managed 27 bytes in a more boring way :) – roblogic Dec 8 '20 at 14:47

# Forth (gforth), 15 bytes

: f + 2/ emit ;


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### Code Explanation

: f      \ start a new word definition
+      \ add top two stack arguments
2/     \ divide top stack value by 2
emit   \ output char of resulting ascii value
;        \ end word definition

• The input requires char, e.g. char a char c f would output b. – agc Nov 12 '19 at 21:46
• More usable version: : g char char + 2/ cr emit ;, run like g e B, (outputs S), etc. Note that it doesn't seem to matter which order the arguments are in, so g B e also outputs S. – agc Nov 12 '19 at 21:51
• @agc In gforth ' will also work, so 'a 'b f would also output b and looks much more similar to other languages – reffu Nov 13 '19 at 13:41

# K4, 9 8 bytes

Solution:

10h$_avg  Examples: q)k)10h$_avg"AC"
"B"
q)k)10h$_avg"az" "m" q)k)10h$_avg"dj"
"g"


Explanation:

Unfortunately the space is needed. Turns out the space isn't necessary!

10h$_avg / the solution avg / calculate mean _ / floor 10h$     / cast to char


Bonus:

• 10h$-256+avg for a 12 byte Q version (more/less hacky than 10h$(_)avg for 10)

# Red, 18 bytes

func[a][average a]


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Takes the input as a list of two letters.

If this is not acceptable:

# Red, 20 bytes

func[a b][a + b / 2]


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• So Red's default behavior is to do the conversion to numbers and then back to letter for the output? – Jonah Nov 9 '19 at 19:28
• @Jonah The type of the result is implied by the first argument. #"A" + 1 is #"B"; 1 + #"A" is 66 – Galen Ivanov Nov 9 '19 at 19:33
• @Jonah From the documentation: "The full range of mathematical functions can be used with char! values. A Math Error is raised if the result of the arithmetic falls outside of the range 00 - 10FFFF (hexadecimal)." – Galen Ivanov Nov 9 '19 at 19:39

# MATL, 3 bytes

Ymc


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### Explanation

Ym   % Implicit input: string of two letters. Implicitly convert to ASCII, and take mean
c    % Implicitly round down, and convert to char
% Implicit display

• It's fun to stay at the... – Luis Mendo Nov 9 '19 at 16:02

# Runic Enchantments, 7 bytes

ii+2,k@


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Input is space sepatrated. Use invalid inputs at your own peril.

# PowerShell, 32 bytes

$args|%{$s+=+$_} [char]($s-shr1)


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# Pari/GP, 57 bytes

fun(x,y)=Strchr(floor((Vecsmall(x)[1]+Vecsmall(y)[1])/2))


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Description

• Vecsmall(x)[1] gives the ASCII number of x.

• Vecsmall(y)[1] gives the ASCII number of y.

• /2 gives the average.

• floor() truncates the average.

• Strchr() converts the average to its ASCII character.

# PHP (7.4), 34 bytes

fn($a,$b)=>chr(ord($a)+ord($b)>>1)


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