Question

Hi all - i'm still struggling with problem 1 in pset2 (i know: the deadline is over :(( ).

http://codepad.org/AziXlzDL

I have two questions:
- I suck at economics, and i'm not sure I understand the "minimum payment rate" formula correctly
- I get a syntax error in line 8...why? Thanks for your help

Answer 1

You are missing a bracket in the previous line to close for the "float" call!

Answer 2

thanks - now at least I can run it - but my numbers are completely wrong

Answer 3

For one you don't need to increment the month. The for loop does it automatically!

Answer 4

If "minimum" is your minimum monthly payment then minimum=balance*minMonthlyPayRate

...and these two lines are wrong
minimum = float(abs((balance * monthlyPaymentRate)- balance)
balance = abs(minimum - balance)

Think carefully about *what* values you are updating each month.
Also what @Chris2332 said

Answer 5

You've introduced many lines you don't need, and aren't taking into account the given formulas:

Monthly interest rate= (Annual interest rate) / 12
Minimum monthly payment = (Minimum monthly payment rate) x (Previous balance)
Updated balance each month = (Previous balance - Minimum monthly payment) x (1 + Monthly interest rate)
Also keep track of your Total Paid (this not increment by 1 each time)

Introduce the formulas inside your loop and print the requested data like you was doing. An advice: round the number at the end, when you print them, to keep your calculations accurate.

Answer 6

thank you all ! I did some reading offline yesterday and it makes a lot more sense now

Answer 7

So did you get everything ok? Do you need anything to be explained more?