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Re: My backwards logic

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On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 3:44 AM, Seymore4Head
<Seymore4Head@hotmail.invalid> wrote:
> BTW since I am getting no grade, I much prefer the answer than a hint.
> The best hint IMO is to tell me how you would do it.

But for your own learning, it's still better for you to do things
yourself. Giving you the answer doesn't teach you nearly as
effectively as giving you a hint and having you work out the answer
yourself.

But telling you how we'd do it can be useful too, especially when we
get down to the detaily bits where there are lots of ways to do
things. For instance, there's been a suggestion made a few times to
break the primality test out into a function... but compare these two:

def isprime(n):
   """Return True iff n is prime"""

def find_factor(n):
    """Return a factor of n, or None if n is prime"""

Aside from inverting the truth value, these are both tests of
primality - you can write "if isprime(n):" or "if find_factor(n):" and
they'll both work. (The latter is actually "iscomposite".) But the
second function is giving you a bit more information - it tells you
what factor it found.

As a general rule, try to avoid throwing information away. To prove
that n is composite, your function found a factor. Returning that,
rather than a boolean value, might make your function more useful; and
it's zero cost, because you know that factors of a number will never
be zero.

ChrisA

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My backwards logic Seymore4Head <Seymore4Head@Hotmail.invalid> - 2014-09-05 12:48 -0400
  Re: My backwards logic MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2014-09-05 17:57 +0100
  Re: My backwards logic Bob Gailer <bgailer@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 13:04 -0400
  Re: My backwards logic John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> - 2014-09-05 17:08 +0000
  Re: My backwards logic Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-09-05 10:08 -0700
    Re: My backwards logic Seymore4Head <Seymore4Head@Hotmail.invalid> - 2014-09-05 13:44 -0400
      Re: My backwards logic Chris Kaynor <ckaynor@zindagigames.com> - 2014-09-05 11:17 -0700
      Re: My backwards logic Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 15:04 -0600
      Re: My backwards logic Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-09-06 09:44 +1000
  Re: My backwards logic Chris Kaynor <ckaynor@zindagigames.com> - 2014-09-05 10:09 -0700
  Re:My backwards logic Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-09-05 13:15 -0400
  Re: My backwards logic Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 11:17 -0600
  Re: My backwards logic Juan Christian <juan0christian@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 14:35 -0300
  Re: My backwards logic Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2014-09-05 11:41 -0700
  Re: My backwards logic MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2014-09-05 19:48 +0100
  Re: My backwards logic Juan Christian <juan0christian@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 16:34 -0300
    Re: My backwards logic Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid> - 2014-09-05 13:07 -0700
      Re: My backwards logic Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 18:24 -0700
  Re: My backwards logic Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-09-05 20:54 +0100
  Re: My backwards logic Seymore4Head <Seymore4Head@Hotmail.invalid> - 2014-09-05 17:49 -0400
    Re: My backwards logic Chris Kaynor <ckaynor@zindagigames.com> - 2014-09-05 15:14 -0700
      Re: My backwards logic Seymore4Head <Seymore4Head@Hotmail.invalid> - 2014-09-05 18:36 -0400
    Re: My backwards logic Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 16:35 -0600
      Re: My backwards logic Seymore4Head <Seymore4Head@Hotmail.invalid> - 2014-09-05 19:05 -0400
    Re: My backwards logic Dave Angel <davea@davea.name> - 2014-09-05 23:10 -0400
  Re: My backwards logic Juan Christian <juan0christian@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 22:54 -0300
    Re: My backwards logic Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 18:58 -0700
  Posting style: interleaved responses (was: My backwards logic) Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-09-06 12:37 +1000
  Re: Posting style: interleaved responses (was: My backwards logic) Juan Christian <juan0christian@gmail.com> - 2014-09-06 00:06 -0300
  Re: Posting style: interleaved responses (was: My backwards logic) Zachary Ware <zachary.ware+pylist@gmail.com> - 2014-09-05 23:04 -0500
  Re: My backwards logic Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-09-06 08:45 +0100
  Re: My backwards logic Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2014-09-06 07:49 +0000
    Prime testing [was Re: My backwards logic] Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-09-06 20:38 +1000
      Re: Prime testing [was Re: My backwards logic] Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-09-06 20:42 +1000
      Re: Prime testing [was Re: My backwards logic] Manolo Martínez <manolo@austrohungaro.com> - 2014-09-06 12:53 +0200
        Re: Prime testing [was Re: My backwards logic] Peter Pearson <pkpearson@nowhere.invalid> - 2014-09-07 18:53 +0000
          Re: Prime testing [was Re: My backwards logic] Manolo Martínez <manolo@austrohungaro.com> - 2014-09-07 21:09 +0200
          Re: Prime testing [was Re: My backwards logic] Dan Stromberg <drsalists@gmail.com> - 2014-09-07 20:23 -0700
  Re: Posting style: interleaved responses Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-09-06 08:46 +0100

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