Thread: 3 dimensional array help!

[So I have to change a 3 dimensional array around, and I am almost there, but not quite! So my problem is as follows:
Problem 1
We tackled this problem in class: keeping track of 3 students and their 4 exam grades for each of
their 2 subjects. Hence, it uses a 3(students)-2(subjects)-4(exams) array. The code for the
following is attached.
The program includes functions for:
Printing an average of all grades
Finding average grade for each subject for each student
Finding the average grade for each student in both subjects
You should now rewrite the code to work with 2(subjects)-3(students)-4(exams) array and do the
same things as described above and in the attached code.

Here is the original code:

Code:

#include <stdio.h> 
#define MaxP 3 
#define MaxR 2 
#define MaxC 4 
 
float ave(float points[3][2][4]); 
float subj(float points[4]); 
float stud(float points[2][4]); 
 
void main(void) 
{ 
    int i, j; 
     
    float grades[3][2][4]={{{3, 4, 5, 6}, 
                            {1, 2, 3, 4}}, 
                        {{2, 4, 5, 7}, 
                            {1, 3, 5, 7}}, 
                        {{4, 6, 8, 9}, 
                            {2, 4, 6, 8}}}; 
    printf("The total average of all students/subjects/exams is %.2f\n",ave(grades)); 
    for(i=0;i<MaxP;i++) 
        for(j=0;j<MaxR;j++) 
            printf("The average for student %d in subject %d is %.2f\n", i, j, subj(grades[i][j])); 
    for(i=0;i<MaxP;i++) 
        printf("The average for student %d is %.2f\n", i, stud(grades[i])); 
     
} 
 
 
float ave(float points[MaxP][MaxR][MaxC]) 
{ 
    int i,j,k; 
    float total=0; 
    for(i=0;i<MaxP;i++) 
        for(j=0;j<MaxR;j++) 
            for(k=0;k<MaxC;k++) 
                total+=points[i][j][k]; 
    return total/(MaxP*MaxR*MaxC); 
} 
 
float subj(float points[MaxC]) 
{ 
    int i; 
    float total=0; 
    for(i=0;i<MaxC;i++) 
        total+=points[i]; 
    return total/MaxC; 
} 
 
float stud(float points[MaxR][MaxC]) 
{ 
    int i,j; 
    float total=0; 
    for(i=0;i<MaxR;i++) 
        for(j=0;j<MaxC;j++) 
            total+=points[i][j]; 
    return total/(MaxR*MaxC); 
}

Here is what I have so far:

Code:

#include <stdio.h> 
//MaxP and MaxR values are switched
#define MaxP 2 
#define MaxR 3 
#define MaxC 4 
  //Dimensions 1 and 2 are flip flopped
float ave(float points[2][3][4]); 
float subj(float points[4]); 
float stud(float points[3][4]); 
 
void main(void) 
{ 
    int i, j; 
     
    float grades[2][3][4]={{{3, 4, 5, 6},{2, 4, 5, 7},{4, 6, 8, 9}}, 
                        {{1, 2, 3, 4},{1, 3, 5, 7},{2, 4, 6, 8}}}; 
    printf("The total average of all students/subjects/exams is %.2f\n",ave(grades)); 
//Order of for loops is changed
    for(i=0;i<MaxP;i++) 
        for(j=0;j<MaxR;j++) 
            printf("The average for student %d in subject %d is %.2f\n", i, j, subj(grades[i][j])); 
    for(i=0;i<MaxP;i++) 
        printf("The average for student %d is %.2f\n", i, stud(grades[i])); 
     
} 
 
 
float ave(float points[MaxP][MaxR][MaxC]) 
{ 
    int i,j,k; 
    float total=0; 
    for(i=0;i<MaxP;i++) 
        for(j=0;j<MaxR;j++) 
            for(k=0;k<MaxC;k++) 
                total+=points[i][j][k]; 
    return total/(MaxP*MaxR*MaxC); 
} 
 
float subj(float points[MaxC]) 
{ 
    int i; 
    float total=0; 
    for(i=0;i<MaxC;i++) 
        total+=points[i]; 
    return total/MaxC; 
} 
 
float stud(float points[MaxR][MaxC]) 
{ 
    int i,j; 
    float total=0; 
    for(i=0;i<MaxR;i++) 
        for(j=0;j<MaxC;j++) 
            total+=points[i][j]; 
    return total/(MaxR*MaxC); 
}

What my program does is it prints out the following:

The total average of all students/subjects/exams is 4.54
The average for student 0 in subject 0 is 4.50
The average for student 0 in subject 1 is 2.50
The average for student 1 in subject 0 is 4.50
The average for student 1 in subject 1 is 4.00
The average for student 2 in subject 0 is 6.75
The average for student 2 in subject 1 is 5.00
The average for student 0 is 3.00
The average for student 1 is 2.17
The average for student 2 is 0.00


Everything is correct except for the last 3 lines. The average for student 0 should be 3.50, for student 1 4.25, and for student 2, 5.88

I've been trying to mess around with my stud function but I cannot seem to get it working correctly. If you guys could offer me any help/guidance it would be greatly appreciated. C is a very powerful language but can be very tedious at times. Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by kplax

We tackled this problem in class: keeping track of 3 students and their 4 exam grades for each of
their 2 subjects. Hence, it uses a 3(students)-2(subjects)-4(exams) array.
[...]
C is a very powerful language but can be very tedious at times.

Especially if you program that way...yuck...no offense, since you are a beginner. I suppose it is too late now, but a more conventional method here would have been to use structs, eg:

Code:

struct student {
	int id;   // might be unnecessary
	float sub1[4];
	float sub2[4];
};

Your 3D array just became a 1D array of structs with 2 1D arrays each. So eg:

Code:

struct student student_list[3];
[...]
student_list[0].subj1[2];   // grade of 3rd exam for first student's first subject

This is much more manageable, but if you have not covered structs yet, you have not covered structs yet.

To figure out what is wrong with your stud() function, you could try:

Code:

float stud(float points[MaxR][MaxC])
{
    int i,j;
    float total=0;
    for(i=0;i<MaxR;i++)
        for(j=0;j<MaxC;j++) {
            total+=points[i][j];
  // is this the number I think it is?
            printf("%d %d %f\n", i, j, points[i][j]);
        }   
    return total/(MaxR*MaxC);
}

BTW, the return type of main() is int, not void.

Also, you did not need a float array, you just needed to use floats for the averages.

Originally Posted by MK27

Especially if you program that way...yuck...no offense, since you are a beginner. I suppose it is too late now, but a more conventional method here would have been to use structs, eg:

Code:

struct student {
	int id;   // might be unnecessary
	float sub1[4];
	float sub2[4];
};

Which oddly enough takes up more memory than doing it without the structure, even if we ignore padding issues. :P But it is an easier way to wrap your mind around it usually.

Originally Posted by kplax

We tackled this problem in class: keeping track of 3 students and their 4 exam grades for each of
their 2 subjects. Hence, it uses a 3(students)-2(subjects)-4(exams) array. The code for the
following is attached.

However, if you really want to use a 3D array, then I would advise you use good variable names.

Code:

#define STUDENTS 3
#define SUBJECTS 2
#define EXAMS 4
int studentnum, subjectnum, examnum;
float gradedata[ STUDENTS ][ SUBJECTS ][ EXAMS ];

for( studentnum = 0; studentnum < STUDENTS; studentnum++ )
    ...

If I was teaching C, one of the first things I would teach people is to make their code clear and easy to read. It will do wonders for you in the long run.


Quzah.