[SOLVED] Noob question about arrays

[bothwell]

I have a while loop that outputs a line of numbers. I want to find the sum of these numbers. I know I can use array_sum() to find the sum of an array's contents, but I can't seem to get my line of numbers into an array in the first place. :/ All the array() tutorials tell me how to populate an array with predefined values, but I don't have those. I know this is just a noob syntax question but I just can't seem to find the right answer anywhere - any help is appreciated

 

$i = 0; $a = 0; $b = 0;
$count = 1; $sumSquares = array();

while ($count <=10)
  {
    $i = $count * $count;
    $count++;
    
    print $i.", "; // I want this list of numbers to be inside the $sumSquares array below!
    $sumSquares[$i] = $i;
    
  }  
  
print "sum: ";
print array_sum($sumSquares[$i]); // This is not an array so it doesn't work

[JonnyThunder]

$sumSquares = array();

for ($count = 1; $count <= 10; $count++)
{
    $sumSquares[] = $count * $count;
}  
  
print "sum: " . array_sum($sumSquares);

 

 

Does this not work??  Think the reason yours didn't work is because you were specifying an element in the array when calling array_sum, instead of specifying the whole array.

 

[bothwell]

$sumSquares = array();

for ($count = 1; $count <= 10; $count++)
{
    $sumSquares[] = $count * $count;
}  
  
print "sum: " . array_sum($sumSquares);

 

 

Does this not work??  Think the reason yours didn't work is because you were specifying an element in the array when calling array_sum, instead of specifying the whole array.

 

 

Yes, it does, thank you! So what's the difference between using a while and a for loop when doing something like this? I can't really see any functional differences between the two, just shifted syntax.

 

(BTW, when I ask for help here, your name keeps coming up in the responses - just wanted to say thanks for helping out!)

[JonnyThunder]

No problem.

 

I guess I changed it to a 'for' loop for clarity.  There is no functional difference, but (im my opinion) it makes code look a little tidier.  (i'm just a picky programmer I guess!  )

 

The problem you had though, was specifying $i when using array_sum.  By doing that, you asked it to count a single element of your array instead of the whole thing.  Also, there was no need to specify which element of the array to put your value into.  By using [] instead of [$i] a new entry is added to the array automatically, so no need to know specifically where you want to add the value.