I figured out what is wrong, but I am not exactly sure how to fix. So I changed the random numbers so that they are no longer random... $num1=20; and $num2=12; and with that it was able to read the input... the problem is with using a random number each time i press submit the random number changes, therefore the answer changes. I need to figure out to store the random values ($num1 and $num2) into another scalar variable (i.e. $a and $b) so that the random numbers don't change when I hit submit. I can't figure out how to do it though? any help would be nice. and just for an fyi, you can't put

$num1 =$a; 
$num2=$b;
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because $a and $b will equal random numbers. And I also tried

my $a=$num1;
my $b=$num2;
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and that still didn't work, any help would be great, thanks