Question

Hello all~ On problem set 1, problem 1a, the following part of the solution is confusing me:

# Initialize state variables
numMonths = 1
totalAmtPaid = 0

I know the problem has to be 'initialized', but can someone explain to me how one would get to 1 and 0, respectively?

Also, the "+=" means???

thanks!

Answer 1

what are you asking?

Answer 2

I believe on the initialize part, they are just assigning values 1 and 0 to variables numMonths and totalAmtPaid.
If on the second line you wrote numMonths = 9, then variable numMonths would have value 9.

The "+=" operator means to increase the variable by the value next to the equal sign.
To illustrate better "month +=1" is the same as "month = month +1"

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

x = x + 1 means x += 1 means x++
x = x + 5 means x += 5

It is shorthand. For adding 1, it is so common there is a really short version, the ++.

Answer 4

AFAIK, the ++ is not supported in Python, just the +=.