Re: Newbie! Programming Calculations

Indifferent wrote:
Im new to programming, im learning ruby.

Here is the guide I am working through:
http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=01

At the bottom of the page there are these sample calculations:
puts 5 * (12-8) + -15 (is that + minus15 or does the + and the - mean
something combined? same for the one below with * and -52)
puts 98 + (59872 / (13*8)) * -52

What do they do? What are the brackets for?
I sort of remember doing something simular to this when I was using
excel in a course i did. Is the number is the brackets calculated first?
Can someone explain this to me? Or give me a link were I can find more
information.

Extreamly confused newbie! Please help!

Just like in math, the parentheses indicate what happens first. The
inner-most parentheses are calculated first.

An expression like:

98 + 59872 / 13 * 8 * -52

is evaluated as:

59872 / 13 = 4605

4605 * 8 = 36840

36840 * -52 = -1915680

-1915680 + 98 = -1915582


Compared to:

98 + (59872 / (13*8)) * -52

Which is evaluated as:

13 * 8 = 104

59872 / 104 = 575

575 * -52 = -29900

-29900 + 98 = -29802


The difference in order of evaluation is due to the parentheses.

Hopefully that helps...

-Justin

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.


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