2

Working through a Python tutorial. I created a simple script (myFirstFunction) that does not perform whats expected. I expected a line of output that is just two variables multiplied together:

apples = raw_input("How many apples do you have?")
oranges = raw_input("How many oranges do you have?")

def myFirstFunction(apples, oranges):
    total_fruit = apples * oranges
    print total_fruit

The script does ask for the inputs as expected, but does not print out the results?

myName-MacBook:pythonhard me$ python ex19b.py
How many apples do you have?2
How many oranges do you have?2
myNames-MacBook:pythonhard me$

Why does it not print out 4?

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  • 2
    You are never calling the function... Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 20:06
  • 2
    Because you are not calling myFirstFunction anywhere. Commented Dec 8, 2013 at 20:06

3 Answers 3

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6

There are two issues here:

  1. You never call myFirstFunction. This can be done by placing this at the end of your script:

    myFirstFunction(apples, oranges)

  2. raw_input always returns a string object. So, the inputs need to be converted into integers before you multiply them inside myFirstFunction. You can do this by placing them in int:

    apples = int(raw_input("How many apples do you have?"))
oranges = int(raw_input("How many oranges do you have?"))

Here is a fixed version of your script:

apples = int(raw_input("How many apples do you have?"))
oranges = int(raw_input("How many oranges do you have?"))

def myFirstFunction(apples, oranges):
    total_fruit = apples * oranges
    print total_fruit

myFirstFunction(apples, oranges)

Demo:

How many apples do you have?2
How many oranges do you have?2
4
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1 Comment

Ah! Thank you. I got it now, accepting when the time limit comes of
2

You need to a) call the function & b) convert the input to integers because the result of a raw_input is a string.

def myFirstFunction(apples, oranges):
    total_fruit = int(apples) * int(oranges)
    print total_fruit

apples = raw_input("How many apples do you have?")
oranges = raw_input("How many oranges do you have?")

myFirstFunction(apples, oranges)
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Comments

2

You should have 

return total_fruit

in function, then call myFirstFunction and print result:

def myFirstFunction(apples, oranges):
   total_fruit = apples * oranges
   return total_fruit

apples = raw_input("How many apples do you have?")
oranges = raw_input("How many oranges do you have?")

print myFirstFunction(apples, oranges)

or just call myFirstFunction (when no return):

myFirstFunction(apples, oranges)
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1 Comment

Thanks for informing me about "return".

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