Daily Coding Challenge - Second Best

JavaScript
1

Tell us what’s happening:

I think there something wrong with the test , if you pass the test 1 , 2 and 5 you fail test 3 the same thing the other way round

Your code so far

// function getLaptopCost(laptops, budget) {
//   const affordableLaptop = laptops
//   .filter(price => price < budget)
//   .sort((a,b) => b-a)
//   console.log(affordableLaptop)
//   if (affordableLaptop.length > 2) {
//     if (affordableLaptop[0]) {}
//   } else {
//     return 0
//   }
// }


function getLaptopCost(laptops, budget) {
  // 1. Remove duplicates and sort the prices in descending order.
  const uniqueSortedLaptops = [...new Set(laptops)].sort((a, b) => b - a);

  // 2. Filter for laptops within the budget.
  const affordableLaptops = uniqueSortedLaptops.filter(price => price <= budget);

  // 3. Check and return based on the number of affordable laptops.
  if (affordableLaptops.length >= 2) {
    // If there are at least two affordable laptops, return the second most expensive.
    console.log(affordableLaptops[1] && affordableLaptops[0])
    return affordableLaptops[0] && affordableLaptops[1];
  } else if (affordableLaptops.length === 1) {
    // If there is exactly one affordable laptop, return its price.
    return affordableLaptops[0];
  } else {
    // If no laptops are within the budget, return 0.
    return 0;
  }
}




getLaptopCost([1500, 2000, 1800, 1400], 1900)
getLaptopCost([2099, 1599, 1899, 1499], 2200)
getLaptopCost([1200, 1500, 1600, 1800, 1400, 2000], 1450)

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Challenge Information:

Daily Coding Challenge - Second Best
https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/daily-coding-challenge/2025-08-28

2

This is where you go wrong. I would reread condition 1 carefully.

3

I have tried changing the filter method but still the same result

function getLaptopCost(laptops, budget) {

  const affordable = laptops.filter(price => price <= budget).sort((a, b) => b-a).slice(0, 2);

  console.log(affordable)

  if (affordable.length === 2) {

    return affordable[1]; // second most expensive

  } else if (affordable.length === 1) {

    return affordable[0]; // only one affordable

  } else {

    return 0; // none affordable

  }

}
4

Slow down and look at the instructions carefully

  • The second most expensive laptop if it is within your budget, or

  • The most expensive laptop that is within your budget, or

Let’s add some ( ) around the clauses

  • The (second most expensive laptop) if (it is within your budget), or

  • The (most expensive laptop that is within your budget), or

You are throwing away all laptops that are not in your budget, but that is not what the instructions ask you to do.

5

Note - please do not post code like that. The entire block of code should have a single set of backticks before it and a single set of backticks after it. Breaking up the lines like this makes it harder to read the code.

6

You should check if the length of affordable laptop is same as the length of laptop prices then return the second one.

1 Like
7

I don’t think that quite works.

8

First condition is quite confusing. Maybe because I am not a native english speaker.

I would edit it to “The second most expensive laptop if all laptops are within your budget“

1 Like
9

that would not be correct, as that would exclude the second most expensive laptop if you can’t afford the first one

1 Like
10

I was experiencing the same problem and emdes12 and efimberg22’s answers definitely helped me with passing all the tests as I was always struggling with test 3 (getLaptopCost([2099, 1599, 1899, 1499], 2200) should return 1899).

Either I passed all tests but failed no. 3 or just passed no. 3 and 4 and failed the rest.

Thinking of task 1 as “The second most expensive laptop if all laptops are within your budget, or[…]” and basically comparing the array length of the selected laptops with the given laptops length was the missing piece for me.

1 Like