I think I may just end up using arrays, rather than spending my entire weekend figuring out if it is even vastly possible to get the desired result the way he wanted us to solve it. I can just tell him that he can't mark me down for working ahead. Thanks for all your help once again. If I get the program to work (without using arrays, files, etc.) I'll get back to you (That is, if you are even interested ). I think the reason why the assignment was assigned like this was because there are still people in my class who don't know how to use a printf function , and allowing them to attempt using things we haven't learned yet would simply be a disaster. Thanks again and sorry for taking your time.