Homework 1: Functions, Control hw01.zip

Due by 11:59pm on Thursday, September 1

Required Questions

Q1: A Plus Abs B

Python’s operator module defines binary functions for Python’s intrinsic arithmetic operators. For example, calling operator.add(2,3) is equivalent to calling the expression 2 + 3; both will return 5.

Note that when the operator module is imported into the namespace, like at the top of hw01.py, you can just call add(2,3) instead of operator.add(2,3).

Fill in the blanks in the following function for adding a to the absolute value of b, without calling abs. You may not modify any of the provided code other than the two blanks.

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
    >>> a_plus_abs_b(-1, 4)
    3
    >>> a_plus_abs_b(-1, -4)
    3
    """
    if b < 0:
        f = lambda x,y:x-y
    else:
        f = lambda x,y:x+y
    return f(a, b)

Q2: Two of Three

Write a function that takes three positive numbers as arguments and returns the sum of the squares of the two smallest numbers. Use only a single line for the body of the function.

def two_of_three(i, j, k):
    """Return m*m + n*n, where m and n are the two smallest members of the
    positive numbers i, j, and k.

    >>> two_of_three(1, 2, 3)
    5
    >>> two_of_three(5, 3, 1)
    10
    >>> two_of_three(10, 2, 8)
    68
    >>> two_of_three(5, 5, 5)
    50
    """
    return i * i + j * j + k * k-max(i, j, k)*max(i, j, k)

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
    """
    "*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
    factor = n-1
    while factor>0:
        if n%factor==0:
            return factor
        factor-=1

Q4: 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
    >>> b = hailstone(1)
    1
    >>> b
    1
    """
    "*** YOUR CODE HERE ***"
    count = 1
    print(n)
    while n>1:
        if n%2==0:
            n//=2
        else:
            n=n*3+1
        print(n)
        count+=1
    return count