# Beginner with a question **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 3, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193 "2007-08-03T18:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/1 "2007-08-03T18:49:35Z")
So I am new to ruby, and I seem to be stuck on a seemingly simple problem. I have two variable’s, one that is defined in the script, and one that is grabbed from input. I can add them together just fine, but I have not come up with a way to put the addition statement inline with strings. For instance: ``` puts favnum.to_i + plus1.to_i ``` Works producing the expected result. However when I try something like this: ``` puts 'Try ' + favnum + plus1 + ' has the result.' ``` I get errors. I have tried declaring the variables as integers, and tried various syntax’s on that line, but the solution is escaping me and I have not found a good way to do this. I would also be willing to do a variable to define the item I want to add into the line, such as: ``` finalnum = favnum.to_i + plus1.to_i ``` But that doesnt produce the desired result either as the following doesnt work: ``` puts 'Try '+ finalnum +' instead.' ``` In both cases I also tried forcing .to\_i but that didnt help. (though doing a “puts finalnum” works.) So what sort of silly syntactical error am I making ? (Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, it seemed like my best bet.) ~Clockwork ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/2 "2007-08-03T19:04:36Z")
On Aug 3, 2007, at 11:48 AM, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > variable to > In both cases I also tried forcing .to\_i but that didnt help. > (though doing > a “puts finalnum” works.) > > So what sort of silly syntactical error am I making ? > > (Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, it seemed like > my best > bet.) > > ~Clockwork > Very simple actually, > read those error messages! > You’re trying to do math and concatenation of strings at the same time. > so you have some options. > One of them is using .to\_s on those numbers to turn them into strings. > But if you wan the result of adding or subtracting or what have you, > then you need parentheses around the math part, followed by .to\_s puts ‘Try ’ + (favnum + plus1).to\_s + ’ has the result.’ ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/3 "2007-08-03T19:06:37Z")
It seems like you are coming from Perl or PHP where such expressions are converted for you. This is not the case in Ruby. The language may be dynamicly typed, but it’s strongly typed, so adding a FixNum to a String doesn’t make sense. Thus, you’re best off doing the following: favnum = favnum.to\_i plus1 = plus1.to\_i and continue with actual FixNum objects. Also, make libral use of string replacements: puts “Try #{favnum + plus1} …” Such a thing calls #to\_s on the result of whats in #{…}. Welcome to Ruby! Jason ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/4 "2007-08-03T19:12:38Z")
On 8/3/07, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > So what sort of silly syntactical error am I making ? Ruby does not implicitly convert Integers into Strings. You need to explicitly tell Ruby this is what you are doing. puts “Try #{finalnum} instead” Inside double quoted strings, anything inside a #{ } delimiter is treated as Ruby code, and it is evaluated by the interpreter and converted into a string. So you could also write (as you did originally) puts “Try #{favnum + plus1} has the result.” Hope that makes sense. Oh, and welcome to Ruby! Blessings, TwP ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/5 "2007-08-03T19:09:38Z")
When you are defining the one variable in the script are you defining it as a string? i.e. var = “3” On 8/3/07, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Works producing the expected result. However when I try something like > finalnum = favnum.to\_i + plus1.to\_i > So what sort of silly syntactical error am I making ? > > (Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, it seemed like my best > bet.) > > ~Clockwork – “Hey brother Christian with your high and mighty errand, Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” -Greg Graffin (Bad Religion) ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/6 "2007-08-03T19:58:42Z")
Awesome. Thanks. Whats the difference between single and double quoted strings in ruby ? ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/beginner-with-a-question/111193/7 "2007-08-03T20:27:49Z")
On 8/3/07, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Awesome. Thanks. > > Whats the difference between single and double quoted strings in ruby ? Take a look at this section on Strings from the Programming Ruby book … [http://www.rubycentral.com/pickaxe/language.html#UD](http://www.rubycentral.com/pickaxe/language.html#UD) That will answer your question in much greater detail than I could in this short mailing list post. Blessings, TwP