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Python Python Basics Functions and Looping Raising Exceptions

DEVIN ANDERSON
PLUS
DEVIN ANDERSON
Courses Plus Student 713 Points

have copied line for line and running into same error on line 9

Hi Guys, This is driving me nuts:

import math 


def split_check(total, number_of_people):
    return math.ceil (total / number_of_people)

try:
    total_due = float(input( "What is the amount?  ")
    number_of_people = int(input("How many People?  "))
except ValueError:
    print( "Oh no! That's not a valid value. Try again...")
else:
    amount_due= split_check(total_due, number_of_people)
    print("Each person owes ${}.format(amount_due))

I have literally copied line for line what is in the video and can't get the same result it always says:

treehouse:~/workspace$ python check_please_3                                                                                                                              
  File "check_please_3", line 9                                                                                                                                           
    number_of_people = int(input("How many People?  "))                                                                                                                   
                   ^                                                                                                                                                      
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

[MOD: added ```python formatting. -cf]

2 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,457 Points

You have a typo:

total_due = float(input( "What is the amount?  ")  # Missing closing paren

The stack trace output points at the number_of_people reference in line 9 because the missing paren causes the statement defining number_of_people to be absorbed in the float() function call. Missing parens and missing or mismatched quotation marks cause the stack trace to report misleading error messages. The error can be many lines above the reported error line.

Post back if you need more help. Good Luck!

Guilherme Mergulhao
Guilherme Mergulhao
4,002 Points

Also, the last line of code is missing closing double quotes.

Best Regards,