Homework 01
Q1: A Plus Abs B
Fill in the blanks in the following function definition for adding a to the absolute value of b, without calling abs.
from operator import add, sub
def a_plus_abs_b(a, b):
"""Return a+abs(b), but without calling abs.
>>> a_plus_abs_b(2, 3)
5
>>> a_plus_abs_b(2, -3)
5
"""
if b < 0:
f = sub
else:
f = add
return f(a, b)
Q2: Two of Three
Write a function that takes three positive numbers and returns the sum of the squares of the two largest numbers. Use only a single line for the body of the function.
def two_of_three(a, b, c):
"""Return x*x + y*y, where x and y are the two largest members of the
positive numbers a, b, and c.
>>> two_of_three(1, 2, 3)
13
>>> two_of_three(5, 3, 1)
34
>>> two_of_three(10, 2, 8)
164
>>> two_of_three(5, 5, 5)
50
"""
return max(a*a+b*b, a*a+c*c, b*b+c*c)
Q3: Largest Factor
Write a function that takes an integer n that is greater than 1 and returns the largest integer that is smaller than n and evenly divides n.
def largest_factor(n):
"""Return the largest factor of n that is smaller than n.
>>> largest_factor(15) # factors are 1, 3, 5
5
>>> largest_factor(80) # factors are 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 40
40
>>> largest_factor(13) # factor is 1 since 13 is prime
1
"""
result = n-1
while True:
if n%result == 0 :
return result
else :
result -= 1
Q4: If Function vs Statement
Let’s write a function that does the same thing as an if statement.
def if_function(condition, true_result, false_result):
"""Return true_result if condition is a true value, and
false_result otherwise.
>>> if_function(True, 2, 3)
2
>>> if_function(False, 2, 3)
3
>>> if_function(3==2, 3+2, 3-2)
1
>>> if_function(3>2, 3+2, 3-2)
5
"""
if condition:
return true_result
else:
return false_result
def with_if_statement():
"""
>>> with_if_statement()
1
"""
if c():
return t()
else:
return f()
def with_if_function():
return if_function(c(), t(), f())
def c():
return True
def t():
print(1)
def f():
print(2)
Q5: Hailstone
Douglas Hofstadter’s Pulitzer-prize-winning book, Gödel, Escher, Bach, poses the following mathematical puzzle.
Pick a positive integer n as the start.
If n is even, divide it by 2.
If n is odd, multiply it by 3 and add 1.
Continue this process until n is 1.
The number n will travel up and down but eventually end at 1 (at least for all numbers that have ever been tried – nobody has ever proved that the sequence will terminate). Analogously, a hailstone travels up and down in the atmosphere before eventually landing on earth.
This sequence of values of n is often called a Hailstone sequence, Write a function that takes a single argument with formal parameter name n, prints out the hailstone sequence starting at n, and returns the number of steps in the sequence:
def hailstone(n):
"""Print the hailstone sequence starting at n and return its
length.
>>> a = hailstone(10)
10
5
16
8
4
2
1
>>> a
7
"""
count = 1
while n > 1:
print(n)
if n%2 == 0:
n = n//2
else:
n = n*3 +1
count += 1
print(1)
return count