Need help with assignment......due 10/13/06....PLEASE HELP!!

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum, but I wanted to check here for help first...I have the following assignment:
Implement a method that will compute the present value of a stream of future payments that leaves a final balance. The parameters to the method will be the monthly payment, the annual interest rate, the number of months, and the final balance.
You can compute this by working backwards from the final balance. Given the balance at the end of the month, add the payment and divide by (1 + monthly-rate). This will give the balance at the beginning of the month. Do this as many times as months. The resulting balance is the present value.
This should also be tested. Do this by picking some values for the present value and using your function. Then, use the method from class to take the present value, the interest rate, the monthly payments and the number of months and compute the final balance. This should match the chosen value. Repeat this for several values of the parameters that you choose.
I was able to use the method from class to compute the final balance, but I'm confused as to how to work it backwards. Here's my code so far...
* TestPresentValue.java
* Created on October 5, 2006, 3:45 PM
* To change this template, choose Tools | Template Manager
* and open the template in the editor.
package testpresentvaluejava;
* @author Administrator
public class TestPresentValue {
    /** Creates a new instance of TestPresentValue */
    public TestPresentValue() {
     * @param args the command line arguments
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Enter the loan parameters to compute the final balance
        double START_BALANCE = 13969;
        double ANNUAL_RATE = .08;
        double MONTHLY_PAYMENT = 200;
        int NUMBER_OF_MONTHS = 10;
        double present_value = START_BALANCE;
        for( int month = 1; month <= NUMBER_OF_MONTHS; month ++ ){
            System.out.println("Month #" + month);
            double interest = present_value * ANNUAL_RATE / 12;
            present_value = present_value + interest - MONTHLY_PAYMENT;
            System.out.println(  "    interest:   " + interest);
            System.out.print("    new balance: " + present_value);
}Can someone please help me to understand what I need to do here? Thank you to anyone who's able to help.

Answer 1

Implement a method....
This mean write a NEW method, don't shove everything into the main method. All those other things it mentions in the assignment should be passed in as parameters.