What else could I do in that testing portion that would allow for a decimal
point? In order for a decimal to be True, it would have to accept both the
digits and the decimal point.
On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 10:36 PM, Danny Yoo <d...@hashcollision.org> wrote:
> > I have been posed with the following challenge:
> >
> > "Create a script that will ask for a number. Check if their input is a
> > legitimate number. If it is, multiply it by 12 and print out the result."
> >
> > I was able to do this with the following code:
> >
> > input = raw_input("Insert a number: ")
> > if input.isdigit():
> > print int(input) * 12
> > else:
> > print False
> >
> > However, a colleague of mine pointed out that a decimal will return as
> > False.
>
>
> Hi Stephanie,
>
>
> Let me try to reproduce the problem you're reporting. I'll use the
> interactive interpreter to help me.
>
> ##############################################
> >>> def f():
> ... n = raw_input("Insert a number:")
> ... if n.isdigit():
> ... print int(n) * 12
> ... else:
> ... print False
> ...
> >>> f()
> Insert a number:10
> 120
> ###############################################
>
> This is just slightly different than the program you've given me. I'm
> replacing the variable name "input" with "n" to avoid potential
> confusion, as there is a separate toplevel function called "input" in
> the Python standard library. I'm also defining it as a function
> called f(), just to make it easy for me to call it multiple times.
>
>
> From the transcript above, I don't think I can see your problem yet.
> It would be helpful to present a concrete example of a failure, to
> make problem reproduction easier ... oh! Ah, I see what you're saying
> now, I think.
>
> By "decimal", you probably don't just mean a number in base-10: you
> may mean a number that has a _decimal point_.
>
> ##############################
> >>> f()
> Insert a number:3.14
> False
> ##############################
>
> Is this the problem that you're considering?
>
>
> If so, you should be able to handle this additional case without too
> much trouble. You're learning how to use conditional statements, and
> there's nothing that prevents you from expanding a branch that
> considers one possible, to one that considers multiple possibilities:
>
> ####################################
> if blah blah blah:
> do some thing
> elif blah blah blah:
> do something else
> else:
> do something even more different
> ####################################
>
>
> You might check, additionally, to see if the string has a decimal
> point, and then if it does, check that the left and right hand parts,
> before and after the decimal, are all digits.
>
>
> The find() method on strings can be helpful:
>
> ############################
> >>> s = "3141.5926"
> >>> s.find(".")
> 4
> ############################
>
> If we know where the decimal is, we can start slicing up the string
> into the left and right hand sides, using the string slicing operator:
>
> #############################
> >>> s[0:4]
> '3141'
> >>> s[4:]
> '.5926'
> ##############################
>
>
> So you can probably adjust your program to check for this possibility.
>
>
> But to get this right in full generality is surprisingly a _lot_ more
> tedious than you might initially expect. :P You should really check
> with your instructor. When the problem says "number", what does the
> problem mean?
>
> This is not as dumb a question as it sounds at first. As an example
> of what can make this complicated: is "3/4" considered a number,
> according to the problem statement? What about scientific notation?
> If you're really pedantic (or have a sense of humor), you might even
> ask yourself: how about roman numerals?
>
> So you really should touch base with your instructor. That will
> probably help in clarifying what does appear to be a under-defined
> term in the problem statement.
>
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