Hello all, I have a school assignment in Biology but I seem to be unable to begin... What I was given is something like the following :
HELIX1:                   x       y       z
           A     1      -1.115   8.537   7.075
           B     2      -2.745   5.280   7.165
           C     3      -0.777   3.267   7.329 
           D     4       1.610   5.225  10.885
           E     5       0.296   5.263  10.912 

HELIX2:
           K     1      -0.696  13.041  22.357 
           L     2       1.152  11.081  23.082 
           M     3       2.200  17.590  18.424

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What I must do is :
take each atom from each helix (for example atoms A, B, C, D, E from helix1 , atoms K,L,M from helix2) and calculate the distance from all other atoms of the
remaining helices.
An example :
1) Take atom A from helix1
2) Calculate distance with atom K from helix2
3) Calculate distance with atom L from helix2
4) Calculate distance with atom M from helix2
In order to calculate the distance ,for example, between A(helix1) and K(helix2), I use the formula:
distance = (Xa-Xk)^2 + (Ya-Yk)^2 + (Za-Zk)^2
So, what I need to store is :
x,y,z for each atom
then, using the formula above ,I will calculate the distance...
I don't know if I need a hash of arrays, an array of hashes or something more or less complicated... Any help?

In reply to confused with distances by Anonymous Monk

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