I am having troubles with trying to retrieve a double variable that is already established outside the block and called inside but I want to return the value of the same variable so that I can apply it to a calculation. the variable that I want returned is: double quarter = 0; but when I plug it into quarter in my first else/if statement, it plugs in 0 and not the value in my switch block. What can I do to retrieve the value? double quarter = 0; //Date entry will be calculated by how much KW user enters switch (input) { case "2/15/13": quarter = kwUsed * 0.10; break; case "4/15/13": quarter = kwUsed * 0.12; break; case "8/15/13": quarter = kwUsed * 0.15; break; case "11/15/13": quarter = kwUsed * 0.15; break; default: System.out.println("Invalid date"); } //Declaring variables for calculations double base = 0; double over = 0; double excess = 0; double math1 = 0; double math2 = 0; //KW Calculations if (kwUsed <= 350) { base = quarter; }else if (kwUsed <= 500) { math1 = ((kwUsed - 350) * quarter); base = ((kwUsed * quarter) - math1); over = ((math1 * 0.1) + math1); }else if (kwUsed > 500) { math2 = ((kwUsed - 350) * 0.1); base = ((kwUsed * 0.1) - math2); math2 = ((kwUsed -350) - 50); over = ((math2 * 0.1) + (15 * 0.1)); double math3 =((kwUsed - 500) * 0.1); excess = ((math3 * 0.25) + math3); } Edited to clarify question.