Assignment 04

Task

Create a simple converter program that converts an entered distance from miles to kilometers and also from kilometers to miles.

Textbook: 2.6
New concepts: Input, Scanner.

Steps

Ask the user to enter a distance. Read this in as a decimal number (double) using a Scanner. Then print what that distance would be if converted from miles to kilometers, as well as from kilometers to miles. Print each conversion, clearly labeled, one per line.

Conversion: 1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers

Your final output should look something like this. Note how I executed the program three separate times; the command prompts and java command are not part of the output of the program. The stuff in green here is the input I typed when prompted by the program.

D:\TA\grading\A04>java ZtomaszeA04
Please enter a distance to convert: 2.5
2.5 miles = 4.02336 kilometers
2.5 kilometers = 1.5534279805933349 miles

D:\TA\grading\A04>java ZtomaszeA04
Please enter a distance to convert: 12
12.0 miles = 19.312128 kilometers
12.0 kilometers = 7.456454306848007 miles

D:\TA\grading\A04>java ZtomaszeA04
Please enter a distance to convert: 1
1.0 miles = 1.609344 kilometers
1.0 kilometers = 0.621371192237334 miles

Your program will currently crash if you enter Strings instead of a number. At this point, that is okay; we'll soon learn how to prevent this.

What to Submit

Upload your UsernameA04.java file to Tamarin.

Grading [3 points]

1 - Compiles

Your program compiles successfully (no errors)

0.6 - Input

You prompt the user to enter a double, which you use to do the calculations.

1.4 - Output

Program displays the correct results of the two conversions. Conversions are printed one per line, with one number followed by an m and the other by a k. (So you can either spell the words out or use the abbreviations mi and km.)

FAQs

Where's the demo code from class?

Here: UserAge.java

Is it okay if my answer is very very close to the correct answer but not exactly the same?

Yes, that's fine. For example, you might get something like this (where km has a trailing 0000001):

Please enter a distance to convert: 50.2
50.2 miles = 80.78906880000001 kilometers
50.2 kilometers = 31.192833850314166 miles

The reason for this is how doubles are stored internally. They are only precise to a certain number of decimal places and, depending on which math operations you perform on them and in which order, that last decimal place may get rounded a digit or two either way along the way. This is always a danger with double math that will become more obvious when we get to to the == (equality) operator next week.

There is a way to format floating point numbers when you print them, so you don't always have to have a big ugly string of digits. However, the formatting either involves the use of an object (such as an instance of java.text.DecimalFormat), or else a rather arcane formatting code (for example: System.out.printf("%.2f\n", miles)). Both are more complicated than we really want to deal with at this point of the class (but have a look into them if you're interested).