Total Elapsed Cooking Time

2 min read

This exercise combines concepts from the previous two problems: using a constant for preparation time (multiplication) and summing two time values (addition) to find a total elapsed time. This demonstrates how to combine multiple arithmetic operations in a single formula.

Problem Statement:

You need to calculate the total elapsed cooking time, which is the sum of the preparation time and the time the lasagna has already spent baking.

Preparation Rate: Each layer (N) takes 2 minutes to prepare.
Baking Time: The lasagna has already been baking for M minutes.

Find the total time: (N × 2) + M

Input N (Layers)	Input M (Bake Time)	Calculation	Output (Total Time)
3	20	(3 × 2) + 20 = 6 + 20	26
1	29	(1 × 2) + 29 = 2 + 29	31

💡 Java Solution Breakdown

The solution involves reading two separate integer inputs, performing multiplication with a constant, and then using the addition operator to sum the result with the second input.

1. Complete Java Code

import java.util.Scanner;

public class TotalElapsedCookingTime {
    /** * Define the constant time required for one layer of preparation.
     */
    public static final int MINUTES_PER_LAYER = 2; 
    
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // 1. Initialize the Scanner object for input.
        Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

        // 2. Read the first input: Number of layers (N).
        int numberOfLayers = sc.nextInt();
        
        // 3. Read the second input: Minutes already baked (M).
        int minutesAlreadyBaked = sc.nextInt();
        
        sc.close();

        // 4. Calculate preparation time: N * 2
        int prepTime = numberOfLayers * MINUTES_PER_LAYER; 

        // 5. Calculate total elapsed time: Prep Time + Bake Time
        int totalTime = prepTime + minutesAlreadyBaked; 
        
        // 

        // 6. Print the final result.
        System.out.println(totalTime);
    }
}

2. Key Concepts & Learning Points

Concept	Description
Handling Multiple Inputs	The program uses `sc.nextInt()` twice in sequence to correctly read the two separate input lines, N and M.
Combined Operations	The key calculation (`prepTime + minutesAlreadyBaked`) demonstrates the order of operations: multiplication (`*`) is performed first to get `prepTime`, and then addition (`+`) sums the results.
Code Readability	Using an intermediate variable (`prepTime`) makes the final calculation (`totalTime = prepTime + minutesAlreadyBaked;`) much cleaner and easier to understand.