title: Python: min(None, x)
body: <p>I would like to perform the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>a=max(a,3)
  b=min(b,3)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However sometimes <code>a</code> and <code>b</code> may be <code>None</code>.<br>
  I was happy to discover that in the case of <code>max</code> it works out nicely, giving my required result <code>3</code>, however if <code>b</code> is <code>None</code>, <code>b</code> remains <code>None</code>...</p>
  
  <p>Anyone can think of an elegant little trick to make <code>min</code> return the number in case one of the arguments in None?</p>