Java Instance Variables vs Local Variables

Question

I\'m in my first programming class in high school. We\'re doing our end of the first semester project. This project only involves one class, but many methods. My question is

Answer 1

Local variables internal to methods are always prefered, since you want to keep each variable's scope as small as possible. But if more than one method needs to access a variable, then it's going to have to be an instance variable.

Local variables are more like intermediate values used to reach a result or compute something on the fly. Instance variables are more like attributes of a class, like your age or name.