Hi and thanks for reading.
I have a question about class design, this is my first effort in C++ so please be forgiving!

The problem: I have to design a class that represent a mechanical force element. Let's call this Force. Each Force has 6 components and some methods, to initialize and read some data, filling up the properties of the Force.

So my class looks something like this:

Code:
class Force
{
public:
    Force(); // default constructor
    ~Force(); // default destructor
    int initializeForce();
    int printForce();
    int readForceData(int, int, int, int, int, int, int);
private:
    ForceComponent m_x;
    ForceComponent m_y;
    ForceComponent m_z;
    ForceComponent m_rx;
    ForceComponent m_ry;
    ForceComponent m_rz;
};
I wrote the various member definitions and all is fine and dandy.
In other words I'm able to initialize the Force object that I instantiate from this class, and I can verify that it contains all the data as read from file.

This force object also should be evaluated: each component should receive a numerical value and, based on the data for that particular component, it should return a value, something like F = k x where:
- k is part of the data that I read
- x is the input to the component
and
- F is the output value.
Seems pretty simple.

The problem is that I do not know if the results (6 values, one for each direction) should be part of my Force class. My intuition tells me that they should not private members and that they should go in a separate class alltogether.

Code:
class ForceResults
{
public:
    int initializeForceResults();
    int computeForceResults( ???? );
private:
    float m_x[6];
    float m_f[6];
};
If I do this how are the two distinct class supposed to work together? Can the computeForceResults receive an instance of the Force class?
In other words, is it OK to do something like:
Code:
int computeForceResults(Force &force);
The compiler doesnt recognize that as valid.
Essentially I'm trying to understand the concept of class coupling and how to manage the separation between a class that contains the DATA and one that contains the RESULTS that are computed using that DATA.
Any help much appreciated!!!!
Thanks & regards,
Andrea.