On Mar 11, 9:50 pm, Nathan Pinno <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mar 11, 1:12 pm, Mensanator <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > On Mar 11, 3:36 am, Duncan Booth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Mensanator <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > On Mar 10, 10:44‹¨«pm, Nathan Pinno <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> Why does my compiler say invalid syntax and then highlight the > > > >> quotation marks in the following code: > > > > >> # This program is to find primes. > > > > > Needs work. > > > > Be fair. > > > Being helpful isn't fair? > > > > The OP hadn't managed to figure out why the program wasn't > > > running, so you can't expect him to have got all the bugs out of the code > > > yet. > > > The bug had already been answered. > > > If you fail to implement your premise correctly, you have a bug. > > > It doesn't matter if the code is bug-free if the premise is false. > > > In this case, the premise that he can determine primes this way > > is false. He will have to abandon the cos() thing, for although it > > works in theory, he'll never get it to work in practice. > > > Besides, the cos() is a red herring (hint: cos(pi*n)). The problem > > can be made to work EXACTLY (at least up to z=10000) by using > > rationals > > (which gmpy supports). > > > His problem is going to take much more than fixing a syntax error. > > > > And he only asked about the specific syntax error not the entire > > > solution to his homework. > > > If this is indeed homework, and he's supposed to come up with a > > factorial algorithm, I seriously doubt the teacher would accept > > gmpy.fac(z-1), so I assume it isn't. > > > > My advice to Nathan would be: > > > > 1. If you get a weird syntax error that you don't understand try cutting > > > the code down to just the bit which generates the error. > > > > 2. Play around in the interactive interpreter to see what works and what > > > doesn't. > > > > 3. If you don't understand why the code doesn't work then get a stuffed > > > toy, cardboard cutout of a person, or the least technical member of your > > > family and explain to them in great detail exactly why the code must > > > (despite error messages to the contrary) be correct. Usually you'll spot > > > the problem half way through the explanation. > > > > 4. If you post to this list then post the full error message and > > > traceback. > > > That way we don't have to guess which quotation marks are the problem. > > Yep, got it fixed, and no, it is not a homework problem...just a > project for fun to keep up my Python coding in my memory intact > (apparently, it doesn't work as well when I've been up early 3 days in > a row... :P ). > > Now I just have to figure out why it isn't working the way it is > supposed to.
Did you see my hints, or are you keen to work it out? My solution tested up to z=10000. Factorial starts getting sluggish there and is utterly intractable for really large numbers, such as RSA. > It was given to me by someone in the sci.math area as an > alternative to working with 1 < x < n.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list