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JavaScript JavaScript Basics (Retired) Working With Numbers Doing Math

Posted by Adam White
Adam White
10,571 Points

What's wrong with my seconds alive code?

The code works when I copy someone else's "var secondsAlive" code from: var secondsAlive = 365 * secondsPerDay * yearsAlive; document.write('I have been alive ' + secondsAlive + ' seconds!');

However, I don't understand why the 365 is necessary or what is wrong with my code:

var secondsPerMin = 60;
var minsPerHour = 60;
var hoursPerDay = 24;
var daysPerWeek = 7;
var weeksPerYear = 52;
var secondsPerDay = secondsPerMin * minsPerHour * hoursPerDay;
document.write('There are ' + secondsPerDay + 'seconds in a day.');
var yearsAlive = 39;
var secondsAlive = secondsPerDay * daysPerWeek * weeksPerYear * yearsAlive;
document.write('I have been alive for ' + secondsAlive 'seconds.');

Thank you

2 Answers

Colin Bell
Colin Bell
29,679 Points
Colin Bell
Colin Bell
29,679 Points

I'm guessing the challenge is looking for the explicit 365 number since daysPerWeek * weeksPerYear === 364.

Also, in your last line:

document.write('I have been alive for ' + secondsAlive + 'seconds.');
                                                    // ^ You forgot the second concatenator
Adam White
Adam White
10,571 Points
Adam White
Adam White
10,571 Points

Thanks for the help, Colin. It actually wasn't for a challenge, so it didn't have to match. The instructor just asked us to try to figure it out. Turns out that once I added that missing concatenator it worked, without having to include 365. Glad to know I figured it out except for that syntax error.

Colin Bell
Colin Bell
29,679 Points
Colin Bell
Colin Bell
29,679 Points

Ah, good deal. Syntax errors are the biggest pain because they're probably the most common, but the error messages they give aren't always exactly the most helpful. Especially when first starting out.