could someone please help me with my program for ps1a?
this is my code so far...I dont get error messages but I also get no output.

for evennumbers in range(2, 1000):
if evennumbers%2==0:
evennumbers=evennumbers

for oddnumbers in range(3, 1000):
if oddnumbers%2!=0:
oddnumbers=oddnumbers

for prime_candidate in range(3, 1000):
if prime_candidate==oddnumbers:
while oddnumbers

Question

could someone please help me with my program for ps1a?
this is my code so far...I dont get error messages but I also get no output.

for evennumbers in range(2, 1000):
    if evennumbers%2==0:
        evennumbers=evennumbers

for oddnumbers in range(3, 1000):
    if oddnumbers%2!=0:
        oddnumbers=oddnumbers

for prime_candidate in range(3, 1000):
    if prime_candidate==oddnumbers:
        while oddnumbers<prime_candidate:
            if prime_candidate%evennumbers!=0:
                print prime_candidate
    if prime_candidate==evennumbers:
        while evennumbers<prime_candidate:

anonymous · Answer

For me, the easiest way of generating odd-numbered candidates was to start at a low odd number (maybe 5; 2 and 3 being explicitly defined as prime) and increment with 2: candidate = 5 loopThis: [test candidate] candidate = candidate + 2 P.S. It looks like some of your code is chopped off. You can share code samples with dpaste ( http://dpaste.com/).

anonymous · Answer

First of all, running that just ends up assigning "evennumbers" to the value 999. Obviously it's more efficient to only test odd candidates above 2, but it's not necessary if you're having trouble. I can't really help with the rest, but here's a link to my (working) ps1a: http://dpaste.com/601203/

anonymous · Answer

Meant to say "running that first block" **

anonymous · Answer

what does the += operator do.
also, the semantics of this line don't make sense to me

print "%d is the 1000th prime number" % (number-1)

I would guess that %d means the number that is generated once the while block has been completed(though why is it stored in variable "d"?). I am having particular difficulty with the end of the line "% (number-1)"
you are asking the computer to use the previous string and an int(with the int variable being 1 less than the prime that was established by the previous while block?) and then find the remainder?

I see that the program works, I just don't understand why

anonymous · Answer

@vosDd n += 1 is the same as n = n+1 n -= 1 is the same as n = n-1 n *= 1 is the same as n = n*1 etc. It's just a way to save time for a common operation. I hadn't encountered the %d syntax. This page has an explanation: http://homepage.mac.com/andykopra/pdm/tutorials/python_strings.html The letter after the % has to be d. It's not a variable. It's just another shortcut (so the print statement doesn't get too messy).