Supplemental Problems

Problem Index: 1 2 3

1. A First Web Page

   Develop a Web page and css style sheet (with editing only from a simple editor). Although the content of your page is completely up to you, your page must include the following elements:

   • A page title
   • A comment at the start of the body of the page, including the following:

     <!--
        Name:
        Campus Mailbox:
        Assignment Name:
        Assignment Due Date:
        
        Academic honesty certification:
            Written/online sources used:
                [include textbook(s), course labs or readings,
                   give complete citations for Web or other written sources
                 write "none" if no surces used]
            Help obtained:
                Following the class policies, I understand that I am not
                allowed to discuss this problem with anyone, except the instructor
     
            My signature below confirms that the above list of sources
            is complete AND that I have not talked to anyone else
            about this problem
     -->
     

   • At least 3 paragraphs of text
   • An [ordered or unordered] list of at least 3 elements.
   • At least one table containing at least 1 header row, at least 3 regular rows, and at least 3 columns.
   • At least one link to another page.
   • At least one image.
   • The use of style sheet (in a separate file) to set at least two font colors, at least two background colors, and at least two adjustments to margins or padding.

   In submitting this problem, please include the following (printed on paper).

   • the HTML file (showing all HTML tags)
   • the corresponding style sheet
   • the URL for accessing the Web page online

2. Computing a Babysitter's Fee

   A baby sitter charges $8.75 per hour until 9:00 pm (while the kids are still up), $6.50 per hour between 9:00 pm and midnight, and $9.25 per hour after midnight (since late night baby sitting interferes with morning classes).

   Write a program that reads four integer values (the sitter's starting time in hours and minutes and the ending time in hours and minutes) and computes the sitter's fee. Assume all times are between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am, and hours should be specified as being between 0 and 12 (inclusive). Hours outside the range of 0 to 12 should be considered invalid.

   • The hour 6 should be considered as 6:00 pm, when it is entered as a starting time.
   • The hour 6 should be considered as 6:00 am, when it is entered as an ending time.

   The following table may clarify allowed time values for this problem.

   Starting	Starting	Ending	Ending	Starting	Ending
   Hour	Minutes	Hour	Minutes	Time	time
   8	0	3	30	8:00pm	3:30am
   6	0	0	45	6:00pm	12:45am
   12	0	6	0	12:00am (midnight)	6:00am

   Programming Note: You may NOT use loops or recursion in this program.

3. Making Early Loan Payments

   When investigating a loan, a customer typically states the amount of money (loanAmount) and specifies the loan's length (number of months N). A bank or other lender proposes an annual interest rate (annRate) for the loan. With this information, the monthly payment for the loan is given by the formulae:

        monthlyRate = annRate / 1200.0
   
        payment = loanAmount * monthlyRate / (1.0 - (1 + monthlyRate)(-N))
   

   For example, a loan to purchase a house might involve $26,000 for 25 years (300 months) at an annual rate of 8.75%, yielding a monthly payment of $213.76.

   The expectation is that the customer will pay this amount (in dollars and cents) each month, although a slight adjustment may be needed the last month to make up for any rounding in the computation.

   The expected payment notwithstanding, the terms of many loans allow the customer to pay an additional amount for one or more months in order to shorten the length of the loan and possibly save some interest charges. This problem investigates the consequences of paying twice the required amount for the first few months.

   More specifically, your work for this problem should have these elements:

   • A user should use an HTML form to specify the values of the loan amount, length (in months), and annual interest rate.
   • The responding PHP program/Web page should determine the actual length of the loan and the total amount paid assuming each of three payment options:
     • The customer pays exactly the expected amount each month (except that the last month may be smaller, if appropriate)..
     • The customer pays twice the expected amount the first month and then the expected amount each subsequent month (except that the last month may be smaller, if appropriate).
     • The customer pays twice the expected amount each month in the first year and then the expected amount each subsequent month (except that the last month may be smaller, if appropriate).
   • In addition to computing the cost of the loan for the three payment plans, the PHP/Web program should indicate the additional costs (if any) of each of the first two payment options over the third.
   • Programming Note: Within a few weeks, the course will consider how to write functions to handle various computations, such as (1+monthlyRate)^(-N). However, since that capability has not yet been covered in the course, you are free to compute this value using PHP's pow function. In this case, the proper expression would be:

           pow ((1 + monthlyRate), -N)
         

     Although not particularly efficient, this approach will suffice for now (See me about alternatives, if you have time and interest.)