Programming Exercises
For Chapter 9
THIS PAGE CONTAINS programming exercises based on
material from Chapter 9 of this on-line
Java textbook. Each exercise has a link to a discussion of one possible solution of that
exercise.
Exercise 9.1:
Write a program that uses the following subroutine, from Section 3,
to solve equations specified by the user.
static double root(double A, double B, double C)
throws IllegalArgumentException {
// Returns the larger of the two roots of
// the quadratic equation A*x*x + B*x + C = 0.
// (Throws an exception if A == 0 or B*B-4*A*C < 0.)
if (A == 0) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("A can't be zero.");
}
else {
double disc = B*B - 4*A*C;
if (disc < 0)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Discriminant < zero.");
return (-B + Math.sqrt(disc)) / (2*A);
}
}
Your program should allow the user to specify values for A,
B, and C. It should call the subroutine to compute
a solution of the equation. If no error
occurs, it should print the root. However, if an error occurs, your
program should catch that error and print an error message. After
processing one equation, the program should ask whether the user
wants to enter another equation. The program should continue until the
user answers no.
See the solution!
Exercise 9.2:
As discussed in Section 1, values of type
int are limited to 32 bits. Integers that are too large
to be represented in 32 bits cannot be stored in an int
variable. Java has a standard class, java.math.BigInteger,
that addresses this problem. An object of type BigInteger
is an integer that can be arbitrarily large. (The maximum size is
limited only by the amount of memory on your computer.) Since
BigIntegers are objects, they must be manipulated using
instance methods from the BigInteger class. For example,
you can't add two BigIntegers with the + operator.
Instead, if N and M are variables that refer
to BigIntegers, you can compute the sum of N
and M with the function call N.add(M). The value
returned by this function is a new BigInteger object that
is equal to the sum of N and M.
The BigInteger class has a constructor
new BigInteger(str),
where str is a string. The string must represent an
integer, such as "3" or "39849823783783283733". If the string
does not represent a legal integer, then the constructor
throws a NumberFormatException.
There are many instance methods in the BigInteger class.
Here are a few that you will find useful for this exercise. Assume
that N and M are variables of type BigInteger.
N.add(M) -- a function that
returns a BigInteger representing the sum of N and M.
N.multiply(M) -- a function that
returns a BigInteger representing the result of multiplying
N times M.
N.divide(M) -- a function that
returns a BigInteger representing the result of dividing N
by M.
N.signum() -- a function that
returns an ordinary int. The returned value represents the
sign of the integer N. The returned value is 1 if N
is greater than zero. It is -1 if N is less than zero.
And it is 0 if N is zero.
N.equals(M) -- a function that
returns a boolean value that is true if N
and M have the same integer value.
N.toString() -- a function that
returns a String representing the value of N.
N.testBit(k) -- a function
that returns a boolean value. The parameter k is an
integer. The return value is true if the k-th
bit in N is 1, and it is false if the k-th
bit is 0. Bits are numbered from right to left, starting with 0.
Testing "if (N.testBit(0))" is an easy way to
check whether N is even or odd. N.testBit(0)
is true if and only if N is an odd number.
For this exercise, you should write a program that prints
3N+1 sequences with starting values specified by the user.
In this version of the program, you should use BigIntegers
to represent the terms in the sequence. You can read the user's
input into a String with the TextIO.getln() function.
Use the input value to create the BigInteger object that
represents the starting point of the 3N+1 sequence.
Don't forget to catch and handle the NumberFormatException
that will occur if the user's input is not a legal integer! You should
also check that the input number is greater than zero.
If the user's input is legal, print out the 3N+1 sequence.
Count the number of terms in the sequence, and print the count at the
end of the sequence. Exit the program when the user inputs
an empty line.
See the solution!
Exercise 9.3:
A Roman numeral represents an integer using letters. Examples are
XVII to represent 17, MCMLIII for 1953, and MMMCCCIII for 3303.
By contrast, ordinary numbers such as 17 or 1953 are called Arabic
numerals. The following table shows the Arabic equivalent of all
the single-letter Roman numerals:
M 1000 X 10
D 500 V 5
C 100 I 1
L 50
When letters are strung together, the values of the letters are
just added up, with the following exception. When a letter of
smaller value is followed by a letter of larger value, the smaller
value is subtracted from the larger value. For example, IV represents
5 - 1, or 4. And MCMXCV is interpreted as M + CM + XC + V, or
1000 + (1000 - 100) + (100 - 10) + 5, which is 1995. In standard
Roman numerals, no more than thee consecutive copies of the same letter
are used. Following these rules, every number between 1 and 3999 can
be represented as a Roman numeral made up of the following one- and two-letter
combinations:
M 1000 X 10
CM 900 IX 9
D 500 V 5
CD 400 IV 4
C 100 I 1
XC 90
L 50
XL 40
Write a class to represent Roman numerals. The class should have two constructors.
One constructs a Roman numeral from a string such as "XVII" or "MCMXCV". It should
throw a NumberFormatException if the string is not a legal Roman numeral.
The other constructor constructs a Roman numeral from an int. It should
throw a NumberFormatException if the int is outside the range
1 to 3999.
In addition, the class should have two instance methods. The method toString()
returns the string that represents the Roman numeral. The method toInt() returns
the value of the Roman numeral as an int.
At some point in your class, you will have to convert an int into
the string that represents the corresponding Roman numeral. One way to approach
this is to gradually "move" value from the Arabic numeral to the Roman numeral.
Here is the beginning of a routine that will do this, where number
is the int that is to be converted:
String roman = "";
int N = number;
while (N >= 1000) {
// Move 1000 from N to roman.
roman += "M";
N -= 1000;
}
while (N >= 900) {
// Move 900 from N to roman.
roman += "CM";
N -= 900;
}
.
. // Continue with other values from the above table.
.
(You can save yourself a lot of typing in this routine if you use arrays in
a clever way to represent the data in the above table.)
Once you've written your class, use it in a main program that will read
both Arabic numerals and Roman numerals entered by the user. If the user
enters an Arabic numeral, print the corresponding Roman numeral. If the user
enters a Roman numeral, print the corresponding Arabic numeral. (You can tell
the difference by using TextIO.peek() to peek at the first character
in the user's input. If that character is a digit, then the user's input is
an Arabic numeral. Otherwise, it's a Roman numeral.) The program should end
when the user inputs an empty line. Here is an applet that simulates my
solution to this problem:
See the solution!
Exercise 9.4:
The file Expr.java defines
a class, Expr, that can be used to represent mathematical
expressions involving the variable x. The expression can
use the operators +, -, *, /, and ^, where ^ represents the operation
of raising a number to a power. It can use mathematical functions
such as sin, cos, abs, and ln.
See the source code file for full details. The Expr class
uses some advanced techniques which have not yet been covered in this
textbook. However, the interface is easy to understand. It contains
only a constructor and two public methods.
The constructor new Expr(def)
creates an Expr object defined by a given expression. The parameter,
def, is a string that contains the definition. For
example, new Expr("x^2") or new Expr("sin(x)+3*x").
If the parameter in the constructor call does not represent a legal
expression, then the constructor throws an IllegalArgumentException.
The message in the exception describes the error.
If func is a variable of type Expr and
num is of type double, then
func.value(num) is a function
that returns the value of the expression when the number num
is substituted for the variable x in the expression.
For example, if Expr represents the expression 3*x+1,
then func.value(5) is 3*5+1, or 16.
If the expression is undefined for the specified value of x,
then the special value Double.NaN is returned.
Finally, func.getDefinition()
returns the definition of the expression. This is just the string
that was used in the constructor that created the expression object.
For this exercise, you should write a program that lets the
user enter an expression. If the expression contains an error,
print an error message. Otherwise, let the user enter some
numerical values for the variable x. Print the value
of the expression for each number that the user enters. However,
if the expression is undefined for the specified value of x,
print a message to that effect. You can use the boolean-valued
function Double.isNaN(val) to check whether a number,
val, is Double.NaN.
The user should be able to enter as many values of x as
desired. After that, the user should be able to enter a new expression.
Here is an applet that simulates my solution to this exercise, so that
you can see how it works:
See the solution!
Exercise 9.5:
This exercises uses the class Expr, which was described
in Exercise 9.4. For this exercise, you should write an
applet that can graph a function, f(x), whose definition
is entered by the user. The applet should have a text-input box
where the user can enter an expression involving the variable x,
such as x^2 or sin(x-3)/x.
This expression is the definition of the function. When the user
presses return in the text input box, the applet should use the
contents of the text input box to construct an object of type
Expr. If an error is found in the definition, then the
applet should display an error message. Otherwise, it should
display a graph of the function. (Note: A JTextField
generates an ActionEvent when the user presses return.)
The applet will need a JPanel for displaying the graph.
To keep things simple, this panel should represent a fixed
region in the xy-plane, defined by -5 <= x <= 5
and -5 <= y <= 5. To draw the graph, compute
a large number of points and connect them with line segments.
(This method does not handle discontinuous functions properly;
doing so is very hard, so you shouldn't try to do it for this exercise.)
My applet divides the interval -5 <= x <= 5
into 300 subintervals and uses the 301 endpoints of these subintervals
for drawing the graph. Note that the function might be undefined
at one of these x-values. In that case, you have to skip
that point.
A point on the graph has the form (x,y) where
y is obtained by evaluating the user's expression at
the given value of x. You will have to convert these
real numbers to the integer coordinates of the corresponding
pixel on the canvas. The formulas for the conversion are:
a = (int)( (x + 5)/10 * width );
b = (int)( (5 - y)/10 * height );
where a and b are the horizontal and vertical
coordinates of the pixel, and width and height
are the width and height of the canvas.
Here is my solution to this exercise:
See the solution!
