Can't figure out why my Else statement won't work

Hello all,

I have just started learning to program and am driving myself crazy trying to figure out why a program I wrote won't print (lines 48-50 below). It compiles and runs, it just doesn't print line 49.

The point of the program is to determine if 3 numbers input by a user could represent the sides of a triangle. The code I came up with works if the numbers could be a triangle (it prints "The numbers you entered could represent the sides of a triangle.") but it won't print a message if it's not a triangle. I tried surrounding the IF and ELSE statements with various arrangements of brackets with no luck. I'm sure it's something obvious that I'm overlooking but i don't know what it is. Anyone see where I'm going wrong?

Thanks!

PS- I don't know how to include the box with the scroll bar in my post. Sorry!


8 import java.util.Scanner;//import Scanner class so we can get user input from keyboard
9 public class Triangle //name of program
10 {
11 //Main method begins execution of Java program
12 public static void main( String[] args )
13 {
14 //Scanner lets us take in information typed in by keyboard
15 Scanner keyboard = new Scanner (System.in);
16
17 double number1;//first number to compare
18 double number2;//second number to compare
19 double number3;//third number to comapre
20
21 //Prompt user to enter number
22 System.out.println(" Please enter a number greater than 0.");
23 //Read number
24 number1 = keyboard.nextDouble();
25
26 //Prompt user to enter number
27 System.out.println(" Please enter a second number greater than 0.");
28 //Read number
29 number2 = keyboard.nextDouble();
30
31 //Prompt user to enter number
32 System.out.println(" Please enter a third number greater than 0.");
33 //Read number
34 number3 = keyboard.nextDouble();
35
36 //Compare numbers. If they meet the requirements print to screen
37 //that it could be a triangle.
38
39 if ( (number1 + number2) >= number3 )
40
41 if ( (number2 + number3) >= number1 )
42
43 if ( (number3 + number1) >= number2)
44 System.out.println( "The numbers you entered could represent the sides of a triangle.");
45
46 //if numbers don't satisfy above requirement print to screen
47 //that the numbers can not represent a triangle.
48 else
49 System.out.println("The numbers you entered can not represent the sides of a triangle.");
50
51
52 }//end main method
53 }//end class

Hint: surround your if and else blocks with {} to better see where your groupings are. Have you stepped through this with a debugger yet?

Also- You could use the && operator instead of nesting if statements like that.

Please put your code inside a CODE block.

It might be easier if you combine the if statements into one. The way you have it, the else statement doesn't execute if one of the first two if statements fails.

Code:

---

                if ( ((number1 + number2) >= number3) && ((number2 + number3) >= number1 ) && ((number3 + number1) >= number2) )
                        System.out.println( "The numbers you entered could represent the sides of a triangle.");
                else
                        //if numbers don't satisfy above requirement print to screen
                        //that the numbers can not represent a triangle.
                        System.out.println("The numbers you entered can not represent the sides of a triangle.");

---

Thanks so much Kevin and FlipPoker! I used {} on the second two if statements and it's working now. I like the idea of combining the IF statements too.

One more question relating to this forum- how do you post a code block?

Thanks again!

In the editor, click the # sound on the tool bar. That will give you code tags. Just place your code in between them. Click "Preview" to make sure you did it right.

1. Got it. Thanks!