Stumped with a transient population program in c++ - c++

Question

this is my first time posting on here. Whenever I've gotten stuck on a programming problem, I've typically been able to find enough information to get me unstuck. I'm afraid that the issue I'm having though, I can't quite find an answer to. It's something I'd need someone to look at to tell me what I may be doing wrong in my code.
I have the program running successfully, and it DOES work. The issue however, is that my produced output is off by a few numbers when compared to the expected output on My Programming Lab. I'm really not sure of what to do to produce the correct output. Allow me to post both my source code, and a screenshot MPL's results screen.
SOURCE CODE:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int populationCalculator(int, double, double, int, int);
int main()
{
int startingPopulation, newArrivals, peopleWhoLeft, years,
newPopulation, finalPopulation;
double deathRate, birthRate;
cout << "This program calculates population change.\n";
cout << "Enter the starting population size: ";
cin >> startingPopulation;
while (startingPopulation < 2)
{
cout << "\nThe starting population may not be less than two. Please
re - enter: ";
cin >> startingPopulation;
}
cout << "Enter the annual birth rate (as % of current population): ";
cin >> birthRate;
while (birthRate < 0)
{
cout << "\nBirth rate percent cannot be negative. Please re -
enter:";
cin >> birthRate;
}
birthRate = birthRate / 100;
cout << "Enter the annual death rate (as % of current population): ";
cin >> deathRate;
while (deathRate < 0)
{
cout << "\nDeath rate percent cannot be negative. Please re -
enter: ";
cin >> deathRate;
}
deathRate = deathRate / 100;
cout << "How many individuals move into the area each year? ";
cin >> newArrivals;
while (newArrivals < 0)
{
cout << "\nArrivals cannot be negative. Please re - enter: ";
cin >> newArrivals;
}
cout << "How many individuals leave the area each year? ";
cin >> peopleWhoLeft;
while (peopleWhoLeft < 0)
{
cout << "\nDepartures cannot be negative. Please re - enter: ";
cin >> peopleWhoLeft;
}
cout << "For how many years do you wish to view population changes? ";
cin >> years;
while (years < 1)
{
cout << "\nYears must be one or more. Please re - enter: ";
cin >> years;
}
newPopulation = populationCalculator(startingPopulation, deathRate,
birthRate, newArrivals, peopleWhoLeft);
cout << "\nStarting population: " << startingPopulation << endl;
for (int loopCount = 1; loopCount <= years; loopCount++)
{
newPopulation = populationCalculator(newPopulation, deathRate,
birthRate, newArrivals, peopleWhoLeft);
cout << "Population at the end of year " << loopCount << " is: " <<
newPopulation << endl;
}
system("pause");
return 0;
}
int populationCalculator(int Population, double deathRate, double birthRate,
int newArrivals, int peopleWhoLeft)
{
int newPopulationCount;
newPopulationCount = Population + (Population * birthRate) - (Population
* deathRate) + newArrivals - peopleWhoLeft;
return newPopulationCount;
}
MPL RESULTS:
http://imgur.com/a/mRmpc
I really will appreciate if anyone can help me figure out why my produced output is off by a few numbers.

Answer 1

Step through your code. You're returning an int where you have double and int multiplication. Make sure that you aren't truncating values that might need to be rounded up or down.
Does birth happen before or after death? Should it occur in steps, or all at once like you have shown?

Answer 2

try casting to a double in your operations that involve doubles and integers. For example
birthRate = (double)(birthRate / 100);
deathRate = (double)(deathRate / 100);
Sometimes programming languages will cast a double to an integer, which causes your numbers to be off.

Answer 3

Perhaps the number were rounded off?
I assume this is the case because I noticed you declared some variables in double but the end result is integer. Try to change the data type of the method
populationCalculator(), newPopulation and of course the returning values of the method populationCalculator() from int to double.