What will be the output? int a = 1, b = 10; while(a < b) { b = 2; a += 2; } printf("%d %d", a, b);

Understand the Problem

The question is asking for the output of a given piece of C code that involves a loop and prints the values of two variables after running the loop. We need to analyze the code to determine what values will be printed for 'a' and 'b'.

Answer

3 2

Steps to Solve

Initialize Variables Start with the initial values:

$a = 1$
$b = 10$

Evaluate the While Condition The condition for the loop is $a < b$:

At this point, $1 < 10$ is true, so we enter the loop.

Enter the Loop Inside the loop, we perform the following operations:

Set $b = 2$.
Update $a$: $a = a + 2$. Thus, $a$ becomes $1 + 2 = 3$.

Check the Condition Again Return to the while condition:

Now, $3 < 2$ is false, so we exit the loop.

Print the Final Values After exiting the loop, we use printf to output the final values of $a$ and $b$:

The final values are $a = 3$ and $b = 2$.

Final Output Thus, the output will be: $$ printf("%d %d", a, b); \implies printf("%d %d", 3, 2); $$

The final output will be 3 2.

More Information

In this code, the loop modifies both variables based on the condition. The loop behaves differently than expected because the value of b is set to 2, which is less than a once incremented.

Tips

There's a potential confusion between the values of a and b as they are updated. A common mistake is to not track how the values change in each iteration of the loop or to assume the loop runs more than once without reevaluating the updated condition.

AI-generated content may contain errors. Please verify critical information

Thank you for voting!