# What am i doing wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [January 21, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808 "2007-01-21T07:36:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/1 "2007-01-21T07:36:02Z")
I realize this is an extremely noobish question, but i’m stuck and can’t seem to figure it out (aside from some very simple HTML, i know nothing about programming). I’m trying to follow Chris P. guide here: [http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=04](http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/?Chapter=04) I’m trying this question he suggested: • Write a program which asks for a person’s favorite number. Have your program add one to the number, then suggest the result as a bigger and better favorite number. (Do be tactful about it, though.) This is what i have, but it’s not working: puts ‘What is your favorite number?’ number = gets puts ‘That is a good number, but ’ + (number.to\_i + 1) + ’ is better!’ However, if i remove the (number.to\_i + 1) from that line, it prints out the text just fine. And if i remove the text, so the line is only: puts number.to\_i + 1 I get the correct results. But if i try to combine the two, i get: TypeError: cannot convert Fixnum into String method + in untitled document at line 3 at top level in untitled document at line 3 I’m using Textmate if that matters. ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/2 "2007-01-21T07:49:24Z")
Nick, > number = gets after this line, try to p number to see what does it contain. It contains “4\n” So, there is an ugly “\n” (carriage return) at the end. Let’s remove that! number = gets.chop p number now we have “4” That’s better. However, this was not the problem, your program will run also without this fix 🙂 The problem is that (number.to\_i + 1) is a FixNum - you need to turn that into a String. So the correct solution reads: ‘That is a good number, but ’ + (number.to\_i + 1).to\_s + ’ is better!’ HTH, Peter \_\_ [http://www.rubyrailways.com](http://www.rubyrailways.com) ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/3 "2007-01-21T07:49:24Z")
(number.to\_i + 1).to\_s You’re trying to merge a String and a Fixnum into one object (i.e., you feed one big string obect to puts; you can’t merge a Fixnum and String like that). The to\_s method will convert the Fixnum you created with to\_i and added one to back to a string for output. Kind of confusing I know, but if you got this far, I’m sure youll get it. 🙂 –Jeremy On 1/21/07, Nick N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > better favorite number. (Do be tactful about it, though.) > puts number.to\_i + 1 > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). – My free Ruby e-book: [http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/](http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/) My blogs: > **[Site not found · DreamHost](http://www.mrneighborly.com/)** > > The owner of this domain has not yet uploaded their website. [http://www.rubyinpractice.com/](http://www.rubyinpractice.com/) ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 8:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/4 "2007-01-21T08:16:26Z")
Another alternative: puts “What’s your favourite number?” number= gets.to\_i puts “Hmm… not bad, but #{number+1} is better” ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 7:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/5 "2007-01-21T07:55:56Z")
Thank you very much! That does make sense now! ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/6 "2007-01-21T08:43:28Z")
Nick N. wrote: > better favorite number. (Do be tactful about it, though.) > puts number.to\_i + 1 > > I get the correct results. But if i try to combine the two, i get: > TypeError: cannot convert Fixnum into String printf “That is good, but %d is better.\n”, number.to\_i+1 ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/7 "2007-01-21T09:34:31Z")
> print "What’s your favorite number? " > puts “Good one, but #{gets.to\_i + 1} is better” Nice (I didn’t realise you could do that either). How about with error checking: print "What’s your favorite number? " puts “Good one, but #{Float(gets)+1} is better” rescue puts “That’s not a number!” ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 9:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/8 "2007-01-21T09:15:31Z")
Sharon P. wrote the following on 21.01.2007 08:16 : > Another alternative: > > puts “What’s your favourite number?” > number= gets.to\_i > puts “Hmm… not bad, but #{number+1} is better” Just realised this one works: print "What’s your favorite number? " puts “Good one, but #{gets.to\_i + 1} is better” ---
**Author:** ![noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/e8c25b/32.png) [@noob2everything](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/noob2everything)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/what-am-i-doing-wrong/82808/9 "2007-01-21T21:27:55Z")
On Jan 21, 2007, at 12:48 AM, Peter S. wrote: > “4\n” > > So, there is an ugly “\n” (carriage return) at the end. Let’s > remove that! > > number = gets.chop > p number When you want to remove a line ending, prefer chomp() to chop(). chomp() will only target the line ending, which will cause you less trouble when using it on a line that doesn’t actually have one: > > “James”.chomp > > =\> “James” > > > “James”.chop > > =\> “Jame” Finally, neither is needed in this case: > > “42\n”.chomp.to\_i == “42\n”.to\_i > > =\> true James Edward G. II