[GCheek]

First off let me thank you all for your help and guidance. I have been learning so much from you all as well as my college computer science class. I cant wait for the day that I can help others the way that you have helped me.

Ok so the second part of my homework for today is this.
// Write a compound-interest calculator. It should read in the principal
// amount (initial investment), the annual nominal interest rate, the
// number of times the interest is compounded per year and the number of
// years invested. It should then output the final amount to the nearest
// cent.
// Your input and output should look like this:
//
// Enter the principal amount in dollars: 1000
// Enter the annual nominal interest rate: 3.5
// Enter the number of times the interest is compounded per year: 12
// Enter the number of years invested: 3
//
// The final amount is $1110.54.
Given those facts I wrote my program and used those numbers to test my math, needless to say I didn't get the same result. After several hours of toiling I decided to ask for help. No matter how I work the equation for compound interest I cant replicate the results. So without further ado here is my code to this point

 int principal_amount, compound_num, years_invested;
   double annual_interest, final_amount,alpha_interest,alpha, bravo, charlie;

   cout << "Please enter the principal amount in dollars: ";
   cin >> principal_amount;
   cout << "Please enter the annual nominal interest rate: ";
   cin >> alpha_interest;
   cout << "Please enter the number of time the interest is compounded per year: ";
   cin >> compound_num;
   cout << "Please enter the number of years invested: ";
   cin >> years_invested;

   cout << showpoint;
   cout << setprecision(5);

   annual_interest = alpha_interest / 100;
   cout << "\n" <<annual_interest<< "\n";

   alpha = compound_num / annual_interest;
   bravo = alpha + 1;
   charlie = compound_num * years_invested;
   final_amount = principal_amount * bravo * charlie;

   cout << "\n The Final Amount Is: $"<<final_amount<< "\n";



   



   // A zero return value indicates that the program finished without error.
   return 0;
}

Please look through this code and let me know what I can do to resolve this.

[KYA]

This is the formula you want to use:



so in terms of your variables:

final_amount = principal_amount*pow((1+(annual_interest/compound_num)), compound_num*years_invested);

I got 1110.54, example test:

int main(){
	double final_amount, principal_amount, annual_interest,
		compound_num, years_invested;

	principal_amount = 1000.00;
	annual_interest = .035;
	compound_num = 12;
	years_invested = 3;

	final_amount = principal_amount*pow((1+(annual_interest/compound_num)), compound_num*years_invested);

	cout << final_amount << endl;
    return 0;
}

[GCheek]

ok so I need to go back over the POW concept I see that I completely missed that, and I'm assuming that if I configure the variables for user input this will still work. Anyway thanks for nudging me in the right direction you rock man.

[GCheek]

ok so as far as POW this is just telling the program to use exponents, so my question is how in this situation does the program know which exponents to multiply by?

[KYA]

pow is:

pow(number, exponent);

[GCheek]

awesome I completely understand this now i just didnt see where you had defined it in your code but I see that you quite literally composed the equation in your code once I looked closely. Nicely done and thanks again your a scholar and a gentleman lol.

[KYA]

Yeah sorry about that, it's from one of the standard libraries.

[GCheek]

It's all good, and I know its a rarity but I tend to learn more by picking a code apart and asking why, why, why. I have a few people in my class that have been programming for a year or more and they don't understand why they have to write things certain ways, to them its just a grade, to me this isn't just getting a degree its learning a trade. So I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to help me. Thank you, thank you , thank you.