PRIME LESSONS

By the Makers of
EV3Lessons

VARIABLES
BY SANJAY AND ARVIND SESHAN
 LESSON OBJECTIVES

1. Learn about different types of variables

2. Learn how to read and write to variables

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 VARIABLES
 What is a variable? Ans. A variable stores a value that you can use later
in your program. Think of it like a notepad or a box that holds a value
for you.
 You can name the variable whatever you want
 You can define the type of variable:
 Variable (Holds a number or text)  Note: there are no Boolean/logic variables
 List (Holds a set of numbers/text … [1,2,3, apple, 55]) – these are covered in
the lesson on Lists
 You can either….
 Write – put a value into the variable
 Read – retrieve the last value written to the variable

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 WHY VARIABLES?
 Variables are an easy way to transfer data across code
 You can also use variables to transfer data into a My Block without an
input (eg. A variable for wheel size in Move Inches – You probably do not
want this to be an input since it rarely changes. You may also use the
value in other locations and want to change it just in one spot.)
 List variables can store multiple data items and make it easy to process
all of them. We will cover list variables in a separate lesson in the
advanced section.

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 CREATING A VARIABLE

 To create a variable, scroll down to the

Variables section
 Select Make a Variable and Name it.
 In the example below, a variable called
“circumference” has been made

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 WRITING TO A VARIABLE

 Once you have created the variable, In the example below, Circumference
it will appear in the menu bar. is set to the circumference of the EV3
Educator robot wheel in centimeters.
Circumference = Pi X Wheel Diameter
Circumference = 3.14 X 5.6

This can be calculated using a Math

Block

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 READING A VARIABLE

 The variable can now be

used in any block with an
oval shape operator
where you would
normally type in a value
 In the example on the
right, the circumference is
used to move the robot
forward 20 centimeters
(20 CM/Centimeters in a
Circumference)
 For example, if the
circumference was 10CM,
the robot would have to
move 2 rotations to move
20CM.
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 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

 In this example, the program moves 20CM

 First set the variable “circumference” before using it in the
program
 Use the variable in the movement block

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 CHANGING VARIABLES

 Once you have created the variable, In the example below, counter
it will appear in the menu bar. is initialized to 1. The change
by 2 will add 2 to the counter.
The display block will show a 3
on the screen since 1 + 2 = 3
Note that you can change by a
negative number as well – this
will subtract from the variable.

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 CHALLENGES

 Challenge 1:
Challeng
 Can you make a program that displays the
e2
number of times that you have pressed the left FINISH
button?
 Challenge 2:
 Can you write a program that counts the
number of black lines you have crossed?

STAR
T
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
 SOLUTION: COUNT CLICKS

Initialize the Counter variable to 0

Every time the Left button is

pressed, increase the Counter
variable by one

Wait until the button is released

otherwise it will go through the loop
multiple times each time you press
the button
Write that Counter Variable to the screen
to display

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
 SOLUTION: COUNT THE LINES

Initialize the Counter variable to 0

Set movement motors

Start moving the robot

Every time a black line is seen,

increase the Counter variable by
one
Wait until the sensor sees white, otherwise you will
count the same black line multiple times.
Write that Counter Variable to the screen
to display

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 NON-NUMERIC VARIABLES

 Variables can also store text

 In the example on the left, we
use the “Error Message”
variable to store text that
describes what went wrong
 The program lets the user
know if the robot travelled too
far or too little if the goal was
to move 500 degrees.
 Note: 1sec at 50 % speed
should move 500 degrees

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 CREDITS

 This lesson was created by Sanjay Seshan and Arvind Seshan for Prime
Lessons
 More lessons are available at www.primelessons.org

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

4.0 International License.
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