Need help with high school lab

Question

Hey guys, I just got assigned this lab in my Java class today, and well, this is the first time i've ever been stuck in Java, and I figured i could turn to the Sun Community for help. The lab is to design a program that when a user enters a number, the program outputs a wedge of the stars, using that number as the starting line. So, in case i worded that horribly heres an example:
user enters number: 5
ouput:
and heres my code so far, I think im on track, but i have no clue where to go from here:
//import
import java.util.Scanner;
public class starLab
    public static void main(String []args)
    {//objects
    Scanner scan=new Scanner (System.in);
    int start;
    System.out.print("Enter the initial number of stars: ");
    start=scan.nextInt();
    while (start>1)
              int star=start;
                   while(star>=1)
                        {System.out.print("*");
                         star=star-1;
                        start=start-1;
}

Answer 1

That doesn't work either, it outputs a crazy amount of stars on one line...i entered 5, and outputed 15 stars on one line?
Ah im horribly confused, and yes it is an off by one issue, but I cant figure out how to get it to bump down lines and subtract one star...heres what ive got after modifications
public class starLab
    public static void main(String []args)
    {//objects
    Scanner scan=new Scanner (System.in);
    int start;
    System.out.print("Enter the initial number of stars: ");
    start=scan.nextInt();
    while (start>=1)
              int star=start;
                   while(star>=1)
                        {System.out.print("*");
                         star=star-1;
                        start=start-1;
}