Question

Hello. A newbie is a little (very) confused on problem set 1 question 1, "Credit Card Debt."

I watched lectures 1, 2 and the first recitation, and feel as if I understand them, so I may not know the necessary information.

I'm actually a little confused...on where to start. This is my godawful attempt at starting the problem:

x = float(raw_input('Enter current balance '))
y = float(raw_input('Enter annual interest rate '))
z = float(raw_input('Enter minimum monthly payment rate '))


for i in range(1,13):
t = x * z
p = (y/12.0) * x
r = t - p
b = x - r

Answer 1

x = b
x = x

print x

I have no clue... before yesterday, the highest level programming I've done was on a TI-84...

Answer 2

The user raw input code looks good, and I did the for loop as well in this problem.

Using the test case 1, after the 3 user inputs, they printed out "Month: 1", "Min monthly payment: " etc... So..

for i in range(1,13):
print 'Month: ', i
t = x * z
print 'Minimum monthly payment: ', t

etc.. all the equations in the loop look good, but I would change the last one, var b.
Rather than using var b, I just used something like

x = x - r

So the balance changes itself. This is just the approach I took to the problem and I'm sure there are many ways to get the same results.

Answer 3

i isn't used at all

Answer 4

Ok your code seems good, but you don't need to do:
x = b
x = x
print x
That's unnecessary, you just put after the for loop, "print b" or with some text to be more understandable for you and others, something like:
print 'resultado:',b
You can improve the for loop, you want to run over 12 times, just use:
for i in range(12); When I started I confused putting the limits :$

Answer 5

Ask as many as you want, is better if you use less variables, cuz the less line code the better, but if your variables are like, rates, balance, etc; in that case where you would update them, will be usefull have each one in variables, is up to you most of the time.
If you make x = 10.0/3; x = 3.3333333333, to round, just use:
round(x,#ofDigits) -> round(x,2) = 3.33

Answer 6

Kay. Thanks :D!

Answer 7

you're welcome

Answer 8

you might want to consider using variable names that give an idea about what they are used for. "balance" instead of "x", "interest_rate" instead of "y". it makes it easier to read and troubleshoot, both for you and those trying to help.