Mastering C Programming: Adding Distances in the Inch-Feet System

The Problem: Adding Distances in the Inch-Feet System

Imagine you need to add two distances, each consisting of feet and inches. For instance, you want to calculate the total distance of 5 feet 8 inches and 3 feet 2 inches. To do this, you’ll need to define a structure that can hold both feet and inches, and then perform the necessary calculations.

Defining the Structure: Distance

In C programming, a structure is a collection of variables of different data types that are stored together. In this case, we’ll define a structure called Distance with two members: feet (an integer) and inch (a float). This structure will allow us to store distances in both feet and inches.

struct Distance {
    int feet;
    float inch;
};

Creating Variables and Computing the Sum

Next, we’ll create two variables, d1 and d2, of type struct Distance. These variables will store the distances we want to add. Then, we’ll compute the sum of these two distances by adding the feet and inches separately. The result will be stored in a variable called result.

The Code: A Step-by-Step Breakdown

int main() {
    struct Distance d1, d2, result;

    // Assign values to d1 and d2
    d1.feet = 5;
    d1.inch = 8.0;
    d2.feet = 3;
    d2.inch = 2.0;

    // Compute the sum
    result.feet = d1.feet + d2.feet;
    result.inch = d1.inch + d2.inch;

    // Print the result
    printf("%d feet %f inches\n", result.feet, result.inch);

    return 0;
}

The Output: Adding Distances Made Easy

When you run this program, it will output the sum of the two distances: 8 feet 10.000000 inches. With this example, you’ve successfully mastered adding distances in the inch-feet system using C programming structures.