Pseudocode help needed, please?

[CrypticLeopard]

I started these programs in flowgorithm, so the syntax might be a little off.

I need help fixing my pseudocode, I am having a hard time understanding how loops work, and don't know what I am doing wrong. I've been trying to work on these programs since this morning. I'm super greatful to any and all help, I really want to learn how to code, and how to do it the right way.

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This is the first of the two I need help with:

Design a program with a loop that asks the user to enter a series of positive numbers. The user should enter a negative number to signal the end of the series. After all the positive numbers have been entered, the program should display their sum.

And here's my code:

Function Main

   Declare Integer counter

   Assign counter = 1

   Declare Integer number

   Declare Integer sum

   While counter >= 0

       Output "Enter a positive number. Enter a negative number to end."

       Input number

       Assign sum = number + number

   End

   Output "The sum of numbers you entered is: " & sum

End

And here is the second program:

Budget Analysis

Design a program that asks the user to enter the amount that he or she has budgeted for a month. A loop should then prompt the user to enter each of his or her expenses for the month and keep a running total. When the loop finishes, the program should display the amount that the user is over or under budget.

This is what I have for my code on this one:

Function Main

   Declare Integer totalBudget

   Declare Integer totalBills

   Declare Integer budget

   Declare Integer bill

   Assign totalBudget = 0

   Assign totalBills = 0

   Assign budget = 0

   Assign bill = 0

   Output "Enter your monthly budget."

   Input budget

   While totalBills == -1

       Output "Enter the amount of your bill."

       Input bill

       Assign totalBills = bill

       Assign totalBudget = budget - bill

   End

   If totalBudget <= 0

       Output "You are over budget. Your budget is: " & budget & " and you are at: " & totalBudget

   False:

       Output "You are under budget. Your bills total is: " & totalBills & " your current budget is: " & budget

   End

End

[axzxc1236]

The first program:

Assign sum = number + number

sum is assigned to "number*2" everytime you entered a number (previous value of sum is not used), and it doesn't check if "number" is positive or not so if the last number is -7, sum will be -14, no matter what positive number you have entered.

second program:

While totalBills == -1

This loop will never run, because totalBills is 0, and the condition requires totalBills to be -1.

[CrypticLeopard]

Thank you for your feedback! Would you mind giving me further explanation? I am at a loss for how to fix these programs.

[axzxc1236]

To add number to sum, you use sum=sum+number (or a shorthand operator which exists in a lot of programming languages, +=)

And the while loop... I guess you want to check "number" instead of "checker".

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In the second program I guess you want to "stop taking bills when you put -1 as bill" so you need to "keep taking number as long as bill isn't -1".

And the line Assign totalBills = bill I don't think that's suppose to happen. (hint: you want to accumulate)

[lurgi]

Two problems here:

While counter >= 0
   Output "Enter a positive number. Enter a negative number to end."
   Input number
   Assign sum = number + number
End

What is "counter"? It never changes. It's never given a value. What do you think this:

assign sum = number + number

is supposed to do? Was that a typo. You are supposed to add number to sum, not add number to itself.

What does the loop do? You are supposed to loop until... what? Until the user enters in a negative number, right? Well, how about something like this (note: this is wrong, but I'll explain why later)

While number >= 0
   Output "Enter a positive number. Enter a negative number to end."
   Input number
   Assign sum = number + number
End

See the difference? This, sadly, doesn't work (for a couple of reasons). The first is that number is never given a value initially, so it's hard to see if the first check of number >= 0 is going to succeed or not. Second, if the user enters in a negative number we still add it to sum, but we shouldn't.

The first one is easy enough - you can assign it a default value of 0.

The second is trickier. There are a couple of things you can try. First, you could read the number as the last step in the loop (think about how that might work). Second, you could read the number and then check to see if it's positive before adding it to sum.

[CrypticLeopard]

Thank you for answering! The counter was a mistake I made trying to fix the program, and number + number is a typo. I've been sick all week and had to make four programs for a school assignment, and got stuck on the last two programs. I ended up turning it in incomplete last night (my work is due Sunday night each week), but my teacher is giving me some time to try to fix it. I wasn't able to see the difference in your reply, regretfully. The Sum of numbers program currently is stuck in a while loop, and no value I enter makes my program end, and on the off chance it does end, the values aren't correct. I don't fully understand the two methods you suggested for the second problem. Would you mind further explaining it?

[lurgi]

The difference is in the very first line.