middleDigits := proc(n) local nList, start; nList := [seq(parse(i), i in convert (abs(n), string))]; if numelems(nList) < 3 then printf ("%9a: Error: Not enough digits.", n); elif numelems(nList) mod 2 = 0 then printf ("%9a: Error: Even number of digits.", n); else start := (numelems(nList)-1)/2; printf("%9a: %a%a%a", n, op(nList[start..start+2])); end if; end proc: a := [123, 12345, 1234567, 987654321, 10001, -10001, -123, -100, 100, -12345, 1, 2, -1, -10, 2002, -2002, 0]: for i in a do middleDigits(i); printf("\n"); end do;