Multi-dimensional arrays in C++ - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Working with Multi-dimensional Arrays in C++

📖 Scenario: You are organizing seating for a small movie theater. The theater has 3 rows and 4 seats in each row. You want to keep track of how many people are sitting in each seat.

🎯 Goal: Create a 2D array to represent the seats, fill it with some numbers, then calculate the total number of people seated in the theater.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a 2D array called seats with 3 rows and 4 columns

Initialize the array with exact values for each seat

Create an integer variable called totalPeople to hold the sum

Use nested for loops with variables row and col to iterate over seats

Add the number of people in each seat to totalPeople

Print the total number of people using std::cout

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Multi-dimensional arrays are used to represent grids, tables, or matrices such as seating charts, game boards, or pixel data in images.

💼 Career

Understanding multi-dimensional arrays is essential for software developers working with data structures, graphics, simulations, and many other fields.

1

Create the 2D array seats

Create a 2D array called seats with 3 rows and 4 columns. Initialize it with these exact values: first row {1, 0, 2, 1}, second row {0, 3, 1, 0}, third row {2, 1, 0, 1}.

C++

#include 

int main() {
    // Create the 2D array seats with given values
    // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use int seats[3][4] = { ... }; to create and initialize the array.

2

Create the variable totalPeople

Create an integer variable called totalPeople and set it to 0. This will hold the total number of people seated.

C++

#include 

int main() {
    int seats[3][4] = {
        {1, 0, 2, 1},
        {0, 3, 1, 0},
        {2, 1, 0, 1}
    };

    // Create totalPeople variable and set to 0
    // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use int totalPeople = 0; to create and initialize the variable.

3

Sum all people using nested for loops

Use nested for loops with variables row and col to iterate over the seats array. Add each seat's value to totalPeople.

C++

#include 

int main() {
    int seats[3][4] = {
        {1, 0, 2, 1},
        {0, 3, 1, 0},
        {2, 1, 0, 1}
    };

    int totalPeople = 0;

    // Use nested for loops to add all seat values to totalPeople
    // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use two for loops: outer loop for rows, inner loop for columns. Add each seat value to totalPeople.

4

Print the total number of people

Use std::cout to print the text Total people seated: followed by the value of totalPeople.

C++

#include 

int main() {
    int seats[3][4] = {
        {1, 0, 2, 1},
        {0, 3, 1, 0},
        {2, 1, 0, 1}
    };

    int totalPeople = 0;

    for (int row = 0; row < 3; row++) {
        for (int col = 0; col < 4; col++) {
            totalPeople += seats[row][col];
        }
    }

    // Print the total number of people
    // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use std::cout << "Total people seated: " << totalPeople << std::endl; to print the result.