Keep Getting Unexpected Return Value

Question

I have to write a code that first asks for year, then age, and calculates when they were born.

import java.util.*;         // Library for 
console input
public class birthYear {
public static void main(String[] args){
    Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
    int yearInput = console.nextInt();  // Define variable for year & get value
    System.out.println("Please enter the current year: ");
    int ageInput= console.nextInt();// Define variable for age & get value
    System.out.println("Please enter your age: ");
} // end main methods
public static int calculate(int year, int age){ // Calculate birth year
    int birthYear = calculate(yearInput,ageInput);
    int calculation = year - age; // calculate birth year
    return calculation;
    System.out.print("You were born in "+ birthYear); // display to console
     } // end of calculate method
     } // end birthYear class  
    
/**       
* @purpose (Calculates the user's birth year 
based on their current age and current year)
* 
* @author (your name)
* @version (a version number or a date)
*/

I keep getting undeclared "yearInput,ageInput" and it wont compile. Any idea where i went wrong? thank you so much

Answer 1

In the definition of your calculate method, you have two parameters: an integer called year, and an integer called age. In your calculate method, you have the following line:

    int birthYear = calculate(yearInput,ageInput);

This line should really be called from inside your main method. In there, you have access to the yearInput and ageInput variables. Once you're inside the calculate method, they are out of scope.

I also noticed that inside the main method, you call the nextInt() methods before printing the "Please enter the current year". You should probably swap those lines as well. The final code would look like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.println("Please enter the current year: ");
    int yearInput = console.nextInt();  // Define variable for year & get value
    System.out.println("Please enter your age: ");
    int ageInput= console.nextInt();// Define variable for age & get value
    int birthYear = calculate(yearInput, ageInput);
    System.out.println("You were born in " + birthYear);
} // end main methods

public static int calculate(int year, int age){ // Calculate birth year
    int calculation = year - age; // calculate birth year
    return calculation;
} // end of calculate method