Thread: Reading formula from a file

This isn't so much C++ related as it is to making a general algorithm, but since the program will be written in C++ I decided to post it here.

Basically, the program needs to read a text file which contains a mathematical formula.

It is formatted like this:

Input file example: For 3*x will look like

*
3
x

Input file example: For (7*(5*x))^2

^
*
7
*
5
x
2

Every equation will have a variable x in it somewhere.

Basically what I am trying to figure out is how I can transform the input into formula form.

I have heard this is how compilers (csc in C# at least) translate formulas in the first place, and have done on paper examples of how to move from one form to the other. If so, does anyone remember what it is called so I can do some reading on it?

What the program will do is if the text file has:
*
3
x

It will print 3 * x, and then ask the user to input an x and provide the product.

That's Polish notation (a/k/a prefix notation), is what that is. You can easily build an expression tree out of it.

Okay I think I understand that part, but when I want to print the formula in infix notation how can I know when to print the parenthesis???

You print a parenthesis when a lower-precedence operator is a child of a higher-precedence operator, or when an operator is a right child of an equally-precedent operator. (For instance, 7 - (4-2) would have the second subtraction as the right child of the first; while 7 - 4 - 2 would have the second subtraction at the root, and the first subtraction as the left child.)