Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Python Basics (2015) Logic in Python Try and Except

Error says cannot convert string to float

The question asks to use float() before adding, but I keep getting an error. Are my arguments supposed to be numbers?

trial.py
def add(num1, num2):
  return(float(num1 + num2))

1 Answer

Jennifer Nordell
seal-mask
STAFF
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

No they aren't. But the way you have the code now it adds the numbers then converts the sum to a float. You want to try to make them floats before you add them. See this code:

def add(num1, num2):
  return float(num1) + float(num2)