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Re: How do I calculate a mean with python?

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On Sep 16, 2013, at 4:33 PM, William Bryant <gogobebe2@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey I am new to python so go easy, but I wanted to know how to make a program that calculates the maen.
> 
> List = [15, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 40]
> def mean():
>    global themean, thesum
>    for i in List:
>        thecount = List.count(i)
>        thesum = sum(List)
>    themean = thesum / thecount
> 
> Why doesn't this work?
> -- 
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

You've had a number of interesting and good responses, some holding your hand quite a bit, and others differently.

I think there's a different way to learn what's going wrong, that ISN'T mentioned here, and for some people it's a quite effective method of learning. I'm a relatively recent import from the Smalltalk community, where this approach is more prevalent, I wish it were more so in the Python community.

The way I suggest is to use a debugger. The nice thing about a debugger, is that you add a call to mean() at the end, put a breakpoint right there, run, and then you can visually walk through what it's doing. This can help find your bug, but probably also clarify how Python works in the first place. I use pycharm (anyone can use it for free). And there are probably others for free as well. 

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Thread

How do I calculate a mean with python? William Bryant <gogobebe2@gmail.com> - 2013-09-16 16:33 -0700
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Jugurtha Hadjar <jugurtha.hadjar@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 00:52 +0100
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-09-16 23:55 +0000
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2013-09-17 01:01 +0100
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Jugurtha Hadjar <jugurtha.hadjar@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 01:08 +0100
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Cameron Simpson <cs@zip.com.au> - 2013-09-17 09:59 +1000
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2013-09-17 00:50 +0000
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Travis Griggs <travisgriggs@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 08:25 -0700
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? William Bryant <gogobebe2@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 12:44 -0700
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? William Bryant <gogobebe2@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 12:45 -0700
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? William Bryant <gogobebe2@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 13:10 -0700
    Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Joel Goldstick <joel.goldstick@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 17:02 -0400
    Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2013-09-17 22:26 +0100
      Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? William Bryant <gogobebe2@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 14:31 -0700
        Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Joel Goldstick <joel.goldstick@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 19:49 -0400
  Re: How do I calculate a mean with python? Bryan Britten <britten.bryan@gmail.com> - 2013-09-17 18:53 -0700

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