Looping Trouble

[Comp.Sci]

Here is the question:

The Series 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + ? is a divergent series. Create a program that will help us examine this claim. Your program will have the user enter the number of terms from the series and tell them the sum to three decimals. An example of a run:
Enter the number of terms:4
2.083
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I'm not too worried about the three decimal place total, it's the looping that concerns me... I have done this on paper and made a table... everything seems fine.
The problem is that i keep getting 2 as my total, for any term I input.

term=input("Enter the number of terms:")
total=1
div=0 #Counter
x=1 #Numerator
y=0 #Denominator
total=1
while div<=term:
div=div+1
y=y+1
x=x/y
total=total+x
print total #I have tried indenting "print total" into the loop and see what total i would get for each loop, and i still end up get 2.. PLEASE HELP

[Comp.Sci]

keep in mind that when the user inputs 3 terms, the program will select 1/1, 1/2, and 1/3...

[Tony]

Comp.Sci @ Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:38 pm wrote:

when the user inputs 3 terms, the program will select 1/1, 1/2, and 1/3...

Will your program actually use those values?

[Comp.Sci]

Yes, there are an infinite number of terms.. If the user enters 10 terms, it would look like 1/1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6+1/7+1/8+1/9+1/10...
I have to add all of these terms and get a total... for some reason, i only get 2 as my sum

[Raknarg]

y=y+1
x=x/y
total=total+x

You are changing the value of x in every loop, that may be the problem. Try this:

total = total + (x / y)

Also, why are you starting total as 1?

[Tony]

Comp.Sci @ Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:07 pm wrote:

Yes, there are an infinite number of terms.. If the user enters 10 terms, it would look like 1/1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6+1/7+1/8+1/9+1/10...
I have to add all of these terms and get a total... for some reason, i only get 2 as my sum

The "some reason" is because it does not look like "1/1+1/2+1/3+1/4+1/5+1/6+1/7+1/8+1/9+1/10".