Short handed/Ternary Operator if statment not working, the logic looks correct to me so i need another set of eyes to check it out

Question

So what the program I'm creating for my course is pascals triangle and the method takes the apex of the triangle and display's it. The old code that is commented out rn does work and had zero issues, but since i wanna try and always advance my coding skills, i tried to make it cleaner and smaller with short hand if statements, if you see what the issue i am having is id appreciate you letting me know, the sample data for getting the correct apex is 4,1,7,9,2 = Apex(7) but with the new code its giving me 6

using System;

namespace Lab4
{
    class Program
    {
        // apex will add each pairs of cards, if over 9 wtvr remaining is thats the new sum
        static int Pyramid(int x, int y)
        {
            x = (x + y > 9) ? (x + y) - 9 : x + y;
            return x;
        }
        static int Apex(int Card1,int Card2,int Card3,int Card4,int Card5)
        {
            int x = 0;
            int cycle = 0;
            while (cycle < 5 ) // tells it how many cycles it needs to get to the apex
            {
                
                //having a cycle counter allows the if statment to know when to cancel the last card out ,from 5-2
       
                Card1 = (cycle == 5) ? Card1     : Pyramid(Card1, Card2);
                Card2 = (cycle == 4) ? 0 : Pyramid(Card2, Card3);
                Card3 = (cycle == 3) ? 0 : Pyramid(Card3, Card4);
                Card4 = (cycle == 2) ? 0 : Pyramid(Card4, Card5);
                Card5 = 0;
               
                cycle++;
                
            }
            x = Card1;
            return x;
        }
        static int PickCard() //method is used to let user input card and check to see if card is a correct input 1-9
        {
           int x=int.Parse(Console.ReadLine()); //allows user to input their card choice
            while (x < 1 || x > 9)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Please Only Choose Cards From 1-9");
                x = int.Parse(Console.ReadLine());
            }
            Console.WriteLine("Please Choose Next Card"); // tells user to choose next card, works since its after the while loop verifies their og input
            return x;
        }
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            int ApexCard;
            int Card1,Card2,Card3, Card4, Card5;
            Console.WriteLine("Please Choose 5 Cards Going Left To Right From 1-9");
            Card1 = PickCard();
            Card2 = PickCard();
            Card3 = PickCard();
            Card4 = PickCard();
            Card5 = PickCard();
            ApexCard = Apex(Card1, Card2, Card3, Card4, Card5);
            Console.WriteLine("");
            Console.WriteLine($"Your Apex Card is {ApexCard}");
        //Author Jonaven Gray 06/21
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

You have incorrect apex calculations using current logic.

Your old logic is (commented and working):

static int Apex(int Card1,int Card2,int Card3,int Card4,int Card5)
{
    int x = 0;
    int cycle = 0;
    while (cycle < 5 )
    {
        Card1 = Pyramid(Card1, Card2);
        Card2 = Pyramid(Card2, Card3);
        Card3 = Pyramid(Card3, Card4);
        Card4 = Pyramid(Card4, Card5);
        Card5 = (cycle == 1) ? Card5 = 0 : Card5=0;
        
        cycle++;
        
        if (cycle==1) 
        {            
            Card5 = 0;
        }
        else if (cycle == 2)
        {
            Card4 = 0;
        }
        else if (cycle == 3)
        {
            Card3 = 0;
        }
        else if (cycle == 4)
        {
            Card2 = 0;
        }
        else if (cycle == 5)
        {
            x=Card1;
        }
    }
    x = Card1;
    return x;
}

So you call Pyramid method for cards and then "reset" cards to 0.

Your current code does different thing - you firstly check cycle and then call Pyramid if condition is met (note that in previous version you call Pyramid always). So you Apex method should be like this:

static int Apex(int Card1,int Card2,int Card3,int Card4,int Card5)
{
    int x = 0;
    int cycle = 0;
    while (cycle < 5 )
    {
        Card1 = Pyramid(Card1, Card2);
        Card2 = Pyramid(Card2, Card3);
        Card3 = Pyramid(Card3, Card4);
        Card4 = Pyramid(Card4, Card5);          
        
        cycle++;
        
        Card2 = (cycle == 4) ? 0 : Card2;
        Card3 = (cycle == 3) ? 0 : Card3;
        Card4 = (cycle == 2) ? 0 : Card4;
        Card5 = (cycle == 1) ? 0 : Card5;
    }
    x = Card1;
    return x;
}

The Pyramid method is correct (both ternary and if-else versions).