Pointer arithmetic - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Pointer Arithmetic in C

📖 Scenario: You are working with a list of numbers stored in an array in C. You want to use pointers to access and manipulate these numbers by moving through the array step-by-step.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use pointer arithmetic to access elements in an array by moving the pointer to different positions.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an integer array with specific values

Create a pointer to the start of the array

Use pointer arithmetic to access the third element in the array

Print the value pointed to by the pointer after moving it

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Pointer arithmetic is used in low-level programming to efficiently access and manipulate data stored in arrays or buffers.

💼 Career

Understanding pointers and pointer arithmetic is essential for systems programming, embedded development, and performance-critical applications.

1

Create an integer array

Create an integer array called numbers with these exact values: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.

C

# Create the integer array 'numbers' with values 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use curly braces to list the values inside the array.

2

Create a pointer to the array

Create an integer pointer called ptr and set it to point to the first element of the numbers array.

C

int numbers[] = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50};
// Create an integer pointer 'ptr' pointing to 'numbers'
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Set the pointer to the array name, which points to the first element.

3

Use pointer arithmetic to access the third element

Move the pointer ptr two positions forward using pointer arithmetic to point to the third element in the array.

C

int numbers[] = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50};
int *ptr = numbers;
// Move 'ptr' two positions forward
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Adding 2 to the pointer moves it two elements ahead.

4

Print the value pointed to by the pointer

Print the value pointed to by ptr using printf. The output should be the third element's value.

C

int numbers[] = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50};
int *ptr = numbers;
ptr = ptr + 2;
// Print the value pointed to by 'ptr'
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use *ptr to get the value the pointer points to.