Completing "Putting the Fun back in Function" challenge with For loop

Question

It seems i'm missing something here.

I am able to complete this challenge, at least to step two, without using a For loop but I don't really understand how to incorporate the for loop.

Help?

functions.py

# add_list([1, 2, 3]) should return 6
# summarize([1, 2, 3]) should return "The sum of [1, 2, 3] is 6."
# Note: both functions will only take *one* argument each.

shopping_list = []

def add_list(num):
  for num in add_list
  num = 1, 2, 3
  return sum(num)

Answer 1 · 2015-04-08T02:04:38Z

April 8, 2015 2:04am

def add_list(num):
  for num in add_list
  num = 1, 2, 3
  return sum(num)

So let's break this down, the function add_list should take a list of numbers instead of just one number, so let's change the parameter name from num to num_list for number list.

def add_list(num_list):
  for num in add_list
  num = 1, 2, 3
  return sum(num)

So the way you want to use the for loop is actually like this:

for num in num_list:
   #do this

You would read the code like this: For every num or number in num_list or number list, colon, do this. The way the for loop works in python is you first put a variable name in this case num that will act as the item in the list you are iterating through. So first you use a variable name, num, then you use in and give it the list name in this case you want to use num_list which you passed into the function at the beginning.

So for every loop, the variable num will change into the next item in num_list.

For example, if num_list = 1,2,3 . On the first iteration num will equal 1, then on the second go, num will equal 2, and finally num will equal 3. When all the numbers in the list are used, the for loop will end.

Finally let's make one more variable that will be the sum total of adding all the numbers in the list. Let's call it total. The final code should look something like this:

def add_list(num_list):
  total = 0

  for num in num_list:  #for every number in number_list
    total += num  #add number to the total

  return total

Let me know if you need any more help.

Answer 2 · 2015-04-08T18:45:50Z

April 8, 2015 6:45pm

Sweet. I get it now.

Thanks a bunch!

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Henry Williams

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Completing "Putting the Fun back in Function" challenge with For loop

2 Answers

Erick Kusnadi

Erick Kusnadi

Henry Williams

Henry Williams