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lukerucker
1,754 PointsVery simple equations in python
Hi, so i'm pretty new to programming but I understand and can use the basic "things" in python and js (loops of different types, functions, that sort of thing) and I've been wanting to write a program in python where it gets input and asks for an equation i.e. x + 6 = 12, then solves it and prints x = 6. So Im stuck on how to do the solving part. Please help!
2 Answers
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest TeacherHoo boy. Alright, I can't get a full answer for every situation, but here's my quick answer to it.
Basically you're looking at a few parts to this software.
- It has to take input.
- It has to break that input apart into logical parts. In this case, a value, an operation, another value, an equals sign, and an answer.
- Then it has to turn the values that are numbers into numbers.
- Then it has to know how to reverse the operation. In this case, turn
+into-. - Then it has to swap the operator around and put the answer in the place of the unknown value.
- Finally, it has to evaluate the new equation and give back the answer.
None of these steps are hard (check out the ast module's literal_eval for the last step) but that's for a super simple solution. Anything more complicated will take a lot more time.
Or you could use the sympy library. I just filmed a course on installing 3rd-party libraries but it's unfortunately not out yet (probably a month away).
lukerucker
1,754 PointsWow thanks Kenneth! That's exactly what I've been looking for!