Thread: Newb, working on Computer Science homework. Need ideas

I know this is very simple for most, I am having a few issues understanding the coding. Pretty sure I am close to understanding but just can't make it there, especially with lack of sleep. Any help is greatly appreciated, I plan on sticking to these forums and learning as much as I can. I'm a computer science major also so it's very serious to me.

I have started writing this Java program for homework in Netbeans 8.0 IDE. The project is as; "This program reads a monetary amount in cents and prints the smallest possible number of coins equaling the amount." I am trying to use 289 as a test in cents. It should be 2 Dollar Coins, 3 Quarters, 1 Dimes and 4 Pennies for a total of 10 coins. My program is giving me 13 coins and I am unsure how to get it to appear which ones. I've pondered on this and read online tutorials but it's not clicking in my head, sadly. I hope this is normal I am getting worried. Been changing the code around alot, also it has to be 'monetary'.

import java.util.Scanner;
  public class Hw1 {
     public static void main(String [] args) {
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
 
        int cents; //input variables
        int dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies; //output   
 
 
        System.out.print("Enter an amount in cents:");
        amounts = in.nextInt();
 
        dollars = amounts/100;
        amounts = amounts%100;
 
        quarters = dollars/25;
        dollars = dollars%25;
 
        dimes = quarters/10;
        quarters = quarters%10;
 
        nickels = dimes/5;
        dimes = dimes%5;
 
        pennies = nickels/1;
        nickels = nickels%1;
 
 
        System.out.println("("+dollars+" Dollars, "+quarters+"       
        Quarters, "+dimes+" Dimes, "+nickels+" Nickels, "+pennies+"     
        Pennies )");
 
   }
 
}

Hi,
apart from posting unformatted code you've got the order wrong. Start with paper and pencil to find an algorythm. On paper you would certainly not start with trying to find the number of pennies to be returned.

Don't apologize for mistakes. They are part of the learning process. Regarding your problem: You have an amount of cents. First find out whether and how many dollars you can return. Next reduce the amount of cents by the dollars returned and find out whether and how many quarters you can return and so on. Division and the modulus operator are what you need:

int amount = 234;
int dollars = amount / 100;
int remaining = amount % 100;

I'm sure you'll get it.