The Print/Grab Methods:

    // *********************************************** //
    // The grab function for FLOAT_POLY class          //
    // *********************************************** //
istream& FLOAT_POLY::grab(istream& input)
{
  FLOAT_POLY_CELL *temp,*tail;
  FLOAT c,test;
  char choice;
  unsigned int p;

  cout << "Please Enter the FLOAT element which terminates input:" << endl;
  input >> test; 
  
  //Find end of list
  //see if list is empty but built
  if(head==NULL){
    head = new FLOAT_POLY_CELL();
    //now we enter the data:
    cout << "Input the first element as a FLOAT: " << endl; 
    input >> c;
    if(!(c==test)){
      head->element = c;
      cout << "Enter the power you want for this term: " << endl;
      input >> p;
      head->power = p;  
      }
    }    
  //find end of list
  temp = head;
  while(!(temp->next==NULL))
    temp = temp->next;
  tail = temp;
  //temp is not NULL; tail is found
  //assume tail stores the last polynomial term
  //so degree of polynomial is head->power
  //so we add at the tail; these new terms will not be
  //in the right order, so later we will have to sort
  cout << "Input the next element as a FLOAT: " << endl; 
  input >> c;
  while(!(c==test)){
    temp->next = new FLOAT_POLY_CELL();
    temp->next->element = c;
    cout << "Enter the power you want for this term: " << endl;
    input >> p;
    temp->next->power = p;
    temp = temp->next; 
    cout << "Input the next element as a FLOAT: " << endl;      
    input >> c;
    } 
  //polynomial is built on top of original polynomial or as new 
  //polynomial by adding p+1 new elements
  //a_n x^p + ... + a_0 + c_0 x^n+1 ... c_p x^n+p
  //apply merge sort to sort according to power
  mergesort();
  return input;
}

    // *********************************************** //
    // The print function for FLOAT_POLY class         //
    // *********************************************** //
ostream& FLOAT_POLY::print(ostream& output) const
{
  FLOAT_POLY_CELL *temp;
  temp = head;
  while(!(temp==NULL)){
    output << *temp;
    temp = temp->next;
    }
  return(output);
}  

\subsection{The Constructors:}

Note we set the head pointer to NULL initially.

\small
\begin{verbatim}
    // ***************************************************** //
    // default constructor for FLOAT_POLY class              //
    // ***************************************************** // 
FLOAT_POLY::FLOAT_POLY()
{
  head = NULL;
}

    // ****************************************** //
    // explicit constructor for FLOAT_POLY class  //
    // ****************************************** // 
FLOAT_POLY::FLOAT_POLY(FLOAT x_in, unsigned int q)
{
  head = new FLOAT_POLY_CELL(x_in,q);
}