Sequential calculations

Actually, I don't see any evidence presented in the question, that the different segments need to be different classes.  At least with what you presented they could be different objects of the same class like

Segment Arm;
Segment Leg;
Segment Head;
Segment Torso;

However, the question was
>> How can I do calculations for the four layers in each segment sequentially

I'm guessing that you mean how to perform the simulation.  For that you need some sort of loop that runs many times and performs the calculation on each iteration, like

for (int i = 0; i < 10000; ++i)
{
   Arm.Calculate();
   Leg.Calculate();
   Head.Calculate();
   Torso.Calculate();
   PrintCurrentResults();
}

Could I please get more info. from jdyer?
 

I didn't think separate classes were needed either (if you'll see my first comment, nietod). However, it could be a little more elegant if he needs to enter a bazillion parameters (very precise number!) in the constructor. Otherwise, he doesn't.

But for Trevorcoen, here is a little more info.

First off I hope that your definition of Segment looks something like this:

class Segment
{

Layer skin;
Layer muscle;
Layer bone;
Layer fat;

public double Calculate();        // could return anything, I'm using double
public Segment( double layer1, double layer2, double layer3, double layer4 );
}

and the implementation of your constructor is similar to:

public Segment( double layer1, double layer2, double layer3, double layer4 )
{
  skin.SetValue( layer1 );
  muscle.SetValue( layer2 );
  bone.SetValue( layer3 );
  fat.SetValue( layer4 );
}

This assumes that a Layer is essentially a wrapper class for a double-precision value. Really you should just fill in the necessary parameters for the layers in the Segment constructor. You may have three values for each layer for a segment, or whatever. Instead of above it might look like this:

public Segment( double layer1Thickness, int layer1Hardness, char* layer1Name, double layer2Thickness, int layer2Hardness, ETC.....

then Layer.SetValue might look like this:

skin.SetValues( layer1Thickness, layer1Hardness, layer1Name );
muscle.SetValues( layer2Thickness, layer2Hardness, layer2Name );

all Calculate in the segment would do would be to call each layers Calculate() function in succession and save the value returned.

or whatever is needed.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
  jdyer

PS What do you think [nietod], are we on the same base here?

I agree, I just suspect that isn't what trevocoroen is asking about.  It seems like the question is about calculation in some way, but I'm not sure what his difficulty is.

yes, I'm still a little fuzzy on what exactly he's looking for. I guess I'm sorta shooting in the dark on this one. :)

Regards,
  jdyer

Help us out Trevor if this still isn't what you're looking for.

Sorry if the question was vague.  There is 24 layers altogether for the six segments.  Each has different attributes.  I have to do
several calculations on the attributes of each layer.  I want to write a function and have it go sequentially through the layers.
A friend recommended an array of pointers.  Thanks again.

You could do

// define a class for storing the data and doing the calculation.
class Layer
{
   // data members to calculate on.
  void calculate(); // Calculate on current data members.
}

// define your 24 layer objects.
Layer ArmMuscle;
Layer ArmSkin;
// etc.

// define a table of 24 layers.
Layer *LayerTable[24]  = {&ArmMuscle,&ArmSkin, etc };

// Calculate for the 24 layers in the table.
for (int i = 0; i < 24; ++i)
   LayerTable[i]->Calculate()

Another approach is to define 2 class jdyer suggested.  You would do

class Layer
{
   // data members to calculate on.
    void calculate(); // Calculate on current data members.
} ;

// Define a segment class that has all 4 layers included and has a
// single calculate() procedure that calls the 4 layer's calculate()
// procedure.
class  Segment
{
   Layer muscle;
   Layer skin;
   // etc

   void calculate()
   {
      muscle.calculate()
      skin.calculate();
   }
};

// Then define your 6 segments
Segment Arm;
Segment Head;

// Then you ned to call calculate one each Segment, rather than each layer, like
Arm.Calculate();
Head.Calculate();

Does that help at all?

We've been assuming you want to do the calculation in a class.  If not, let me know, the array of pointers answer could be changed to provide data to a non-class procedure.