thanks all, i mistakenly believed that Integer() cast the variable to an integer allowing it to be passed. Is there another version of the gets method, like iput and raw_input in Python? >The following code leads to an error - >temp.rb:5:in `*': String can't be coerced into Fixnum (TypeError) >can someone explain the error to me so I can determine how to resolve it, Thanks a million! >def c_f(temp) convert=((9/5)*temp)+32 print "the coverted fig is ", convert >end >temp=gets.chomp >Integer(temp) >c_f(temp) -- --------------------------------- --- -- - Posted with NewsLeecher v3.9 Beta 1 Web @ http://www.newsleecher.com/?usenet ------------------- ----- ---- -- -