Clearing input buffer - c++

Question

I am writing a program, the program is basically a guessing game. Computer displays a number and the user has to guess whether their number is higher, lower or correct. I have already made the program and its all dandy, but the only not dandy part is that I cannot figure out how to get rid of the input buffer when the user decides to play the game again. Every time the user wants to play the game, the game starts again but with the same input as the last game. I have tried putting cin.clear() in any spot I could think and also cin.clear(). But it just seems to not work. How do I clear the input?
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
int num1 = 100;
char choice;
num1 = num1 / 2;
do
{
cout << "My guess is " << num1 << ". " << "Enter 'l' if your number is lower, 'h' if it is higher, 'c' if it is correct: ";
cin >> choice;
cin.clear();
if (choice == 'h')
{
num1 = num1 + 100;
num1 = num1 / 2;
}
if (choice == 'l')
{
num1 = num1 + num1;
num1 = num1 - 11;
num1 = num1 / 2;
}
if (choice == 'c')
{
cout << "Great! Do you want to play again (y/n)?: ";
cin >> choice;
}
} while (choice != 'c' || choice == 'Y' || choice == 'y' || choice == 'n' || choice == 'N');
return 0;
}

Answer 1

In order to restart the game, you need to reset num1. Put the inital value in a variable that you don't change.
const int init = 100;
char choice;
int num1 = init / 2;
When the computer has guessed correctly:
if (choice == 'c')
{
num1 = init / 2; // reset
cout << "Great! Do you want to play again (y/n)?: ";
cin >> choice;
}
You could also leave the loop condition at:
} while(choice != 'N' && choice != 'n');
You should also work on the divide and conquer algorithm. For the computer to be effective, it should always make a guess in the middle of the range that is still possible, and that's not what it's doing right now. It jumps up and down, even outside the established range. An alternative could be to keep two variables to be able to shrink the possible range effectively. You could also do two separate loops, one inner loop for guessing the number and one outer that only asks the user if he/she wants to play again.
Example:
#include <iostream>
int main() {
const int initlo = 1;
const int inithi = 100;
char choice;
do {
std::cout << "Think of a number [" << initlo << "," << inithi << "]\n";
int numlo = initlo; // initialize the range
int numhi = inithi;
int guess;
do {
guess = (numlo + numhi) / 2; // guess in the middle of the range
std::cout
<< "My guess is " << guess << ". "
<< "Enter 'l' if your number is lower, 'h' if it is higher, 'c' "
"if it is correct: ";
std::cin >> choice;
if(choice == 'h') // must be in the range (guess,numhi]
numlo = guess + 1;
else if(choice == 'l') // must be in the range [numlo,guess)
numhi = guess - 1;
// exit the loop if the user cheats or the answer is correct
} while(numlo <= numhi && choice != 'c');
if(choice == 'c') std::cout << "Great! ";
else std::cout << "Cheater! ";
std::cout << "Do you want to play again (y/n)?: ";
std::cin >> choice;
} while(choice == 'Y' || choice == 'y');
std::cout << "Bye\n";
}