Please Help a method do not calculate

Question

hi i have a class called property type of the class is abstract and i m over riding a method from it which is suppose to calculate the amount(charge).
i m using an other calss (PrivateProperty ) to extend the property class
every thing works fine but the method charges do not work at all
when i call the method getTotal_Charges
i get 0.0
as return from getTotal_Charges method
here is the code for Property Class
//Base Class.java
public abstract class Property
protected String address = "unknown";
protected String payer = "unknown";
protected float charge = 0.00F;
public Property(String location, String name)
address = location;
payer = name;
public String toString()
String temp = new String("");
temp += "Payer: " + payer + '\n';
temp += "Property: " + address + '\n';
return temp;
public abstract void charges();
Here is the code for PrivateProperty
public class R_Property extends Property {
//\/\/\/To share a variable beween all the instances of a class\/\/\
//\/\/\/we can do this by declaring the variable as static.\/\/\/\/\
//\/\/\/Ref: Handouts "Static Variables"\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/******* Variable Declaration******* \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
//Variable to hold Units Used value
private static int units_Used = 0;
//Variable to hold Standing charge value
private static float standing_Charge = 37.5F;
//Variable to hold Unit Ratevalue
private static float unit_Rate = 0.0567F;
//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/Constructor/\/\/\/\//\/\//\/\/\
//\/\/\//\/\/\Ref: Handouts Inheritance/\/\/\/\
public R_Property(String location, String name)
super(name, location);
//\/\/\/\/\/\/Charges Method from Base Class\/\/\/\/\/\
public void charges() {
charge = (standing_Charge + (units_Used * unit_Rate));
//\/\/\/\/\/\Setter Method For Units Used/\/\/\/\
public void setUnitsUsed(int units)
units_Used = units;
//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\Setting Getter Methods For/\/\/\/\/\/\
//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\Standing Charges UnitRate /\/\/\/\/\/\
//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ and Total Charges \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
public String getStandingCharge() {
return String.valueOf(standing_Charge );
public String getUnitRate() {
return String.valueOf(unit_Rate );
public String getUnitsUsed() {
return String.valueOf(units_Used);
public String getTotal_Charges() {
return String.valueOf(charge);
}

Answer 1

arg your comment style is very annoying
anyways since i dont see your main method this is just a guess but
charge = (standing_Charge + (units_Used * unit_Rate));
here units used is a integer ie a int and is being multiplyed by a float this might not throw a error
and you might need to wrap it
in your method then agian that might not be the cause you should post the run or main method you are useing to call your methods
charge = (standing_Charge+( (float)( units_Used ) * (float)( unit_Rate ) ));