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I am trying to write some logic which allows me to store values into a 2 dimensional array. Within the function below, I would like to store the current coins[i] value, with the corresponding coin variable as a pair. However, I am not exactly sure how I can this can be done. Reason being is that I would like to loop through the array once it has been populated and print out the current coins[i] value along with the corresponding coin variable which indicates the amount of times used to dispense change.

Function:

int counter = 0;
int coin;
for (int i = 0; i < coins.Length; i++)
{
    coin = Math.Min(quantities[i], (int)(change / coins[i]));
    counter += coin;
    change -= coin * coins[i];
    // want to store [coins[i], coin] in an 2Darray
}
Console.WriteLine("Number of coins = {0}", counter);

If there is another way that this can be done, please be sure to provide suggestions. Bare in mind I cannot use anything from the Collection classes. All answers are appreciated.

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2
  • I'm not sure whether I understood the question properly; why don't you use an actual two-dimensional array? msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2yd9wwz4.aspx Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 11:41
  • I want to use a two-dimensional array, however I am unsure how this can be done. And how to populate it with the values I have specified above. Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 11:45

3 Answers 3

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As the discussion might be a bit hard to follow - is the code below what you are looking for?

// suppose the definition of array 'coins' is somewhere else

int counter = 0;
int coin;

int[] change_given = new int[coins.Length]; // will be the same length as 'coins'

for (int i = 0; i < coins.Length; i++)
{
    coin = Math.Min(quantities[i], (int)(change / coins[i]));
    counter += coin;
    change -= coin * coins[i];
    // want to store [coins[i], coin] in an 2Darray
    change_given[i] = coin;
}

for (int j = 0; j < change_given.Length; j++)
{
     Console.WriteLine("Number of coins of type {0} returned: {1}", j, change_given[j]);
}
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2 Comments

Yes, this is exactly what I would like to do. Would this be the simplest way of doing it?
I would consider this the simplest way of doing it. It could be done with a 2-dimensional array array[2][coins.Length], where array[0][i] ('upper row') would be the input and array[1][i] ('lower row') would be the output, but this approach seems rather artificial to me. However, you really take a serious effort to find an optimal implementation.
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You can do this by using a 2 dimentional array having coins.Length as the length and 2 as the width of the array.

int[,] x = new int[coins.Length, 2];
for (int i = 0; i < coins.Length; i++)
{
        ... your code    
        x[i, 0] = coin;
        x[i, 1] = coins[i];
}
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2 Comments

Ok, I understand clearly the part where you have defined the 2D array, however as for the following code: x[i, 0] = coin; && x[i, 1] = coins[i];. I am not sure what they do.
You can imagine that your array is a table. Let's say that new int[5, 2]; represents a table with 5 rows and 2 columns. x[2,0] represents the value on the third row and first column. x[i, 0] = coin; affects the first column of the row number 'i+1' with your value.
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As described here, a two-dimensional array can be defined by, for instance,

int[,] array = new int[4, 2];

and accessed by

array[i][j] = SomeValue;

in fact it is addressed the same way as in your commented-out code.

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4 Comments

Yep that makes sense, however in the position array[i] I would like to store the variable coins[i], and the position array[j] I would like to store the variable coin. How can I do this?
Perhaps I am missing your point; perhaps you don't need a two dimensional array in the first place, but a second one-dimensional array to store the number of coins selected for a specific type of coin?
Yes, I was originally thinking that and it can be done that way certainly. Although, I thought that later once I have to print out the 2D array, it would be easier to loop through just one instead of dealing with 2 separate arrays?
Well, if the array is two-dimensional, most probably you would iterate with two nested loops. I don't quite understand why a two-dimensional array here would yield any advantage over an additional one-dimensional array. As I unserstood it, conceptually you have two one-dimensional arrays for the problem in question: one containing the input (coins received per type) and the output (coins returned per type).

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