Need help with compsci assignment (C)

[clook]

the assignment wants me to count the number of people in age groups and to report the number of people in each group.

i came up with this, used an int for each group and incremented with if/else if statements.

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
      int x, infant, young, middleaged, old, older, reallyold;
      infant = 0;
      young = 0;
      middleaged = 0;
      old = 0;
      older = 0;
      reallyold = 0;
      printf("Please enter ages (Enter -1 to quit): ");
      scanf("%d", x);
	  while (x != -1)
    {
      if (x <= 16)
      infant++;
      else if (x <= 29)
      young++;
      else if (x <= 55)
      middleaged++;
      else if (x <= 75)
      old++;
      else if (x <= 99)
      older++;
      else if (x > 99)
      reallyold++;
      printf("Number of infants: %d \n", infant);
      printf("Number of young people: %d \n", young);
      printf("Number of middle aged people: %d \n", middleaged);
	  printf("Number of old people: %d \n", old);
	  printf("Number of older people: %d \n", older);
	  printf("Number of really old people: %d \n", reallyold);}

though I'm not sure if its exactly right.. and it won't let me compile.

i keep getting the "unexpected end of file" error. please help? :)i also want to make it so that you can enter as many ages as you want, but I'm not sure what kind of loop i should use for that.

 

[0rthodontist]

You should move the lines
printf("Please enter ages (Enter -1 to quit): ");
scanf("%d", x);
to just inside the while loop, not just outside it. Then you'll also have to initialize x to something other than -1. The reason it's not compiling is you forgot the closing curly brace } on the while loop.

Also you should use proper indentation. The while keyword itself should be the same indentation as the stuff before it, and the contents of the loop should be indented one more. Also if you have an "if" statement, the body of the statement should be indented one more than the "if" statement, like.

while X
{
    if A
        B
    else if C
        D
    else if G
        E
    other stuff here
}

 

[piercas]

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out for help with your computer science assignment. It seems like you are on the right track with your code, but there are a few things that I would suggest to make it more efficient and accurate.

First, instead of using individual int variables for each age group, you can use an array to store the counts for each group. This will make your code more concise and easier to read. For example:

int ages[6]; // array to store counts for each age group
ages[0] = 0; // index 0 represents infants
ages[1] = 0; // index 1 represents young people
ages[2] = 0; // index 2 represents middle aged people
ages[3] = 0; // index 3 represents old people
ages[4] = 0; // index 4 represents older people
ages[5] = 0; // index 5 represents really old people

Next, instead of using multiple if/else if statements, you can use a for loop to iterate through the array and increment the appropriate index based on the age entered by the user. For example:

printf("Please enter ages (Enter -1 to quit): ");
scanf("%d", x);

while (x != -1) {
for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) { // loop through the array
if (x <= age_limits) { // age_limits is an array containing the upper limits for each age group
ages++; // increment the count for the appropriate age group
break; // exit the for loop once the age group has been determined
}
}

printf("Please enter ages (Enter -1 to quit): ");
scanf("%d", x);
}

Finally, to avoid the "unexpected end of file" error, make sure that you have closed all curly brackets and ended all statements with a semicolon.

I hope this helps and good luck with your assignment!