CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++
Kasaundra Scott
Kasaundra Scott

Reputation: 19

Trouble with counters

I'm very new to C++ and have an assignment to edit this code to make it work. For some reason, when I use a combination of multiple positive or negative numbers, it gives the answer that I've entered multiple numbers an extra number.

Example:

I enter 3 postive numbers and 1 negative number. The counter displays 4 positive and 1 negative. Same thing happens if I start with negative numbers instead of positive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Here's the code:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    int number   = 0;
    int positive = 0;   //counter
    int negative = 0;   //counter
    int totalPositive = 0;
    int totalNegative = 0;

    //get a number
    cout << "Enter a positive or negative integer (enter 0 to end): ";
    cin >> number;

    while (number != 0)
    {
        //update counters
        if (number > 0)
        {   
            positive =+ 1;
        }   
        else 
            negative =+ 1;

        //end if

        //get another number
        cout << "Enter another positive or negative integer (enter 0 to end): ";
        cin >> number;
        totalPositive += positive;
        totalNegative += negative;
    }//end while

    //display counters
    cout << endl;
    cout << "Total positive numbers: " << totalPositive << endl;
    cout << "Total negative numbers: " << totalNegative << endl;

    system("pause");
    return 0;
}   //end of main function

Upvotes: 1

Views: 296

Answers (6)

pticawr
pticawr

Reputation: 591

Firstly note the =+ is not an operator (Unlike += which increments the value)

The line 

positive =+ 1

is just interpreted as assigned +1 to positive (which is what you want) but can be just written as

positive = 1

This though brings us to the actual point which is that you don't reset positive or negative back to zero each time around the loop.

Once both positive and negative are assigned to 1 (i.e. when you have entered at least one of each), every time both totalPositive and totalNegative will be incremented.

You may want to consider whether you need the variables positive or negative at all.

Upvotes: 1

Jack Andersen
Jack Andersen

Reputation: 1085

Well your counters are not reset to 0 after your loop finishes.

When you enter your loop the first time, the counters are 0 (positive, negative), but the second time around, the counters are still 1, resulting in a bad counter.

When entering the loop: 

positive = 0;
negative = 0;

//update counters

This code, could be highly refactored to be more efficent, but that's for another question.

Upvotes: 0

yasserkabbout
yasserkabbout

Reputation: 201

Try this code:

#include <iostream>
#include <stdlib.h>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    int number;
    int positive = 0;
    int negative = 0;

   do{

        cout << "Enter a positive or negative integer (enter 0 to end): ";
        cin >> number;

        if (number > 0)
           positive += 1;

        else if(number<0)
           negative += 1;


    }while(number!=0);
    //end while

    //display counters
    cout << endl;
    cout << "Total positive numbers: " << positive << endl;
    cout << "Total negative numbers: " << negative << endl;

    system("pause");
    return 0;
}   //end of main function

You don't have to use total positive and total negative, unless you want to have the summation of the positive numbers and the negative ones.

Upvotes: 1

R Sahu
R Sahu

Reputation: 206567

The logic error in your program is that positive and negative never get reset to 0 once they are set to 1.

If your first two numbers are such that one is a negative number and the other is a positive number, totalPositive and totalNegative will keep increasing after that regardless of the value of number.

You can simplify your logic to:

//get a number
cout << "Enter a positive or negative integer (enter 0 to end): ";

while (cin >> number && number != 0)
{
   //update counters
   if (number > 0)
   {   
      ++totalPositive;
   }   
   else 
   {
      ++totalNegative;
   }

   //get another number
   cout << "Enter another positive or negative integer (enter 0 to end): ";
}//end while

Upvotes: 1

Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean

Reputation: 736

SOmething that might help is to do this for the while loop instead

while (number != 0)
{
positive = 0;
negative = 0;
//update counters
if (number > 0)
{   
    positive = 1;
}   
else 
   negative = 1;

//end if

//get another number
cout << "Enter another positive or negative integer (enter 0 to end): ";
cin >> number;
totalPositive +=positive;
totalNegative +=negative;
}

Otherwise you're doing this thing that's basically 1 + 2 + 3 + 4... for every time the loop runs. By setting each value to 0, it ensures that totalPositive only increases once every loop. Otherwise it grows exponentially

Upvotes: 0

donjuedo
donjuedo

Reputation: 2505

positive is accumulating, but totalPositive is accumulating your accumulation. Try totalPositive++ (and the negative version) in your if statement, and eliminate variables positive and negative.

Upvotes: 1

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