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Python Python Basics (2015) Number Game App Squared

Arun Patel
Arun Patel
1,180 Points
Posted by Arun Patel
Arun Patel
1,180 Points

Why the function didn't return right answer?

I executed same code separately and got right answer (25)

def squared(x): try: x = int(x) y = x * x return y except ValueError: x = str(x) z = x + x return z

def test(): x = squared(5) print(x)

test()

squared.py 
# EXAMPLES
# squared(5) would return 25
# squared("2") would return 4
# squared("tim") would return "timtimtim"
def squared(x):
    try:
        x = int(x)
        y = x * x
        return y
    except ValueError:
        x = str(x)
        y = x + x
        return y
Anibal Marquina
Anibal Marquina
9,523 Points
Anibal Marquina
Anibal Marquina
9,523 Points 
# Check you Try block.
# If the argument (arg) can be turned into an integer then is a number... return the square value of that argument.
# If the argument (arg) cannot be turned into an integer.. then return the argument multiplied by its length.

def squared(arg):
    try:
        int(arg)
        return int(arg) ** 2
    except:
        return arg* len(arg)

1 Answer

Katie Wood
Katie Wood
19,141 Points

Hello there,

You're close - the only thing not functioning correctly is when it passes a string value. With the way it works right now, using x + x, it will just print the string twice. However, it is supposed to print the string a number of times equal to the strings length, so it should instead be x * len(x). With that one line changed, it looks like this:

def squared(x):
    try:
        x = int(x)
        y = x * x
        return y
    except ValueError:
        x = str(x)
        y = x * len(x)
        return y

If you have things spaced out to make it easier to read as you're learning, that's totally fine. If you're interested, though, this can be shortened a good bit:

def squared(x):
    try:
        return int(x) * int(x)  #can also do int(x) ** 2  (exponent notation)
    except ValueError:
        return x * len(x)
Arun Patel
Arun Patel
1,180 Points
Arun Patel
Arun Patel
1,180 Points

Thanks a lot for the clarification.