Stock Market_Solution

Stock Market
=====================

Write a program to predict the performance of various stocks.

**Part 0: Read in the data.** The following program reads in a sequence of stock
prices and prints them out.

```
#include <stdio.h
int main(void) {
float price;
while (scanf("%f", &price) != EOF)
printf("%7.3f\n", price);
return 0;
}
```

Type the program exactly as is; save as `input.c`; and compile with `gcc input.c`.
To read in the data from a file named `stock15.txt`, type `a.out < stock15.txt`.
You can also test your program on `stock1000.txt`, a larger file that contains
real data.

**Part 1: Plot.** Write a program `plot.c` to display the stock values
graphically instead of just printing the values. Round the stock price down to
the nearest integer, and print that number of `*`'s. The correct output is:

```
**************************
*************************
*************************
*************************
*************************
***************************
****************************
**************************
*************************
*************************
*************************
*************************
**************************
*************************
*************************
```

**Part 2: Detect a pattern.** Write a program to identify specific trends in the
data. Dilbert the Day Trader believes that if the stock goes up 3 (or more)
consecutive time periods and then down in the next period, then it is a good
time to sell the stock. Analogously, Dilbert believes that if the stock goes
down 3 consecutive time periods and then up in the next period, then it is a
good time to buy the stock. Write a program `pattern.c` that prints out the time
period and stock price, along with the word `buy` or `sell` according to
Dilbert's rule. The output should look like this:

```
1 26.375
2 25.500
3 25.125
4 25.000
5 25.250 buy
6 27.125
7 28.250
8 26.000 sell
9 25.500
10 25.000
11 25.125 buy
12 25.250
13 26.375
14 25.500 sell
15 25.500
```

**Part 3: Invest.** Write a program `invest.c` to determine how much money you
would have won or lost using Dilbert's rule. You start with $10,000.00 cash.
Assume that you will convert all of your cash to stock when Dilbert's rule
signals you to buy, and that you will convert all of your stock to cash when
Dilbert's rule signals you to sell. For each time period, print out the price,
cash, shares owned, and portfolio value. The value of your portfolio is cash
plus the number of shares multiplied by the price per share. (For simplicity,
assume that you can buy fractional amounts of stock, and there are no
transaction fees.) For `stock15.txt`, the correct output is:

```
period price cash shares value
-----------------------------------------------
1 26.375 10000.00 0.00 10000.00
2 25.500 10000.00 0.00 10000.00
3 25.125 10000.00 0.00 10000.00
4 25.000 10000.00 0.00 10000.00
5 25.250 0.00 396.04 10000.00
6 27.125 0.00 396.04 10742.57
7 28.250 0.00 396.04 11188.12
8 26.000 10297.03 0.00 10297.03
9 25.500 10297.03 0.00 10297.03
10 25.000 10297.03 0.00 10297.03
11 25.125 0.00 409.83 10297.03
12 25.250 0.00 409.83 10348.26
13 26.375 0.00 409.83 10809.32
14 25.500 10450.72 0.00 10450.72
15 25.500 10450.72 0.00 10450.72
```

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