I need help with this simple code.

[CrazyKane]

i cant get it to do that operation i want it to do.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;
int a;
int b;
int answer;
char z;

int main(){
	
	cout<<"Please type an operation... +,-,*,/."<<endl;
	cin>>z;
	cout<<"Please enter your first number"<<endl;
	cin>>a;
	cout<<"Please enter your second number"<<endl;
	cin>>b;
	cout<<"\n\n"<<endl;
	char operation = a+z+b;
	answer = operation;
	cout<<a<<z<<b<<"="<<answer<<endl;
	system("pause");
return 0;
}

[vlad from moscow]

These statements are wrong because they simply add integral values a, z and b.

	char operation = a+z+b;
	answer = operation;

I think you should use the switch statement that to check what operation was entered.

[ENIGMAx]

char operation is a character variable. A char variable can hold data of type char. If you want a string, you can either declare a string variable or use a char array. But I believe you're trying to add the integer variables a and b.

One way to do this would be to use a series of if-else statements that perform an operation based on the operator (in your case, z). Since z happens to be a single character, you can check equivalence and assign an appropriate result based on the operation to be done.

Instead of

char operation = a+z+b;
answer = operation;
cout<<a<<z<<b<<"="<<answer<<endl;

Try something like

if( z == '+' )
{
	answer = a + b;
}
else if( z == '-' )
{
	answer = a - b;
}
else if( z == '/' )
{
	answer = a / b;
}
else	// z == '*'
{
	answer = a * b;
}

cout << a << " " << z << " " << b << " = " << answer << endl; 

[Rechard3]

@ENIGMAx
i think a switch statement would give a better readability of the program.
you're actually comparing one variable against several constants, that's the point of switch after all, if you don't use it here, they shouldn't have included it in the standard in the first place.

[CrazyKane]

Thanks, i got it down now.

http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/general/105977/