## Why is this simple output so difficult to code in C

1
1 2 1
1 2 1 2 1
1 2 1 2 1 2 1
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

I am stumped on how to do this, is it really as easy as it looks?
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 Recognitions: Gold Member Mod note: Deleted the portion that shows the answer to the problem in post #1. Trueo, I see you are fairly new to the forum so perhaps you don't realize it, but the POINT of this forum is not to spoon-feed full answers to problems but to help people learn how to get their own answers by figuring out where they are having difficulty and giving them some help to get them over the next hump. That is, we are not here to show how knowledgeable we are, we are here to help others get more knowledgeable.
 I just think people visiting PF are mostly students who are different from (advanced) employees; and I am not showing off with what I know, it is just a mini program, which doesn't build me into any person. :-)

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## Why is this simple output so difficult to code in C

 Quote by trueo I just think people visiting PF are mostly students who are different from (advanced) employees; and I am not showing off with what I know, it is just a mini program, which doesn't build me into any person. :-)
You are still missing the point.

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 Quote by trueo I just think people visiting PF are mostly students who are different from (advanced) employees; and I am not showing off with what I know, it is just a mini program, which doesn't build me into any person. :-)
Physics Forums rules do not permit providing complete answers, especially when the original poster has not shown any work.
 It's too long since I last programmed in C, so you'll have to make do with some pseudo-code. I guess you don't just want to output your example, but any kind of figure like this: 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 . . . n ones and (n-1) twos alternating The first thing I see here is that you want n rows, so you need some kind of loop: for i = 1 to n do { . . . } Those three dots must produce line number i, which is made up of i ones and (i-1) twos. Forget the twos for the moment, and you still need to print i ones -- with another loop: for j = 1 to i do { print "1" } Now if you can work out how to get those two loops (one for printing n lines, the other for printing i ones) to work together, all you need to add is the twos in between the ones.
 Recognitions: Science Advisor Five "printf"s anyone? OP probably should have been a bit more specific about exactly what was the problem if s/he wants a more specific answer.

 Quote by uart Five "printf"s anyone?
Or one .

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