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Python Python Collections (Retired) Slices Deleting Or Replacing Slices

Jesse Krieg
Jesse Krieg
583 Points
Posted by Jesse Krieg
Jesse Krieg
583 Points

Sillycase code: rounding seems wonky

working on the code challenge and I'm running into this issue:

def sillycase(xf):

first = round(len(xf)/2)

second = int(len(xf)/2)

return xf[:first].lower() + xf[second:].upper()

my code above works for treehouse (9 letters) but I keep getting an error when it auto tries to use 'kenneth'. In the terminal it rounds 4.5 down (treehouse) to 4, BUT it rounds 3.5 up (kenneth) up to 4. Is there a reason why it does this?

I assumed we wanted it to round down as the instructions state it should say 'treeHOUSE' not 'treehOUSE'

very new to this and assuming I'm attacking this question from the wrong direction.

Thanks

4 Answers

Brian Douglas
Brian Douglas
822 Points
Brian Douglas
Brian Douglas
822 Points

You could define a variable for rounding half of the original input with a float '2.0'.

I have adapted you code below and this should pass.

def sillycase(xf):

    length = len(xf)

    half = int(round(length / 2.0))

    first = xf[:half].lower()

    second = xf[half:].upper()

    return first + second
David Sudermann
PLUS
David Sudermann
Courses Plus Student 3,228 Points
David Sudermann
David Sudermann
Courses Plus Student 3,228 Points

Python3 is using "round towards even" as default. You could use integer-division as an alternative here:

7 // 2 = 3
7.9 // 2 = 3

So to solve this exercise you'd use:

def sillycase(xf):
    first = len(xf) // 2
    second = len(xf) // 2
    return xf[:first].lower() + xf[second:].upper()
Dave Huckle
Dave Huckle
7,030 Points
Dave Huckle
Dave Huckle
7,030 Points

Actually you can shorten it even further

def sillycase(xf):
    middle = len(xf) // 2
    return xf[:middle].lower() + xf[middle:].upper()

but round() should be used: https://teamtreehouse.com/community/sillycase-code-challenge-assume-the-string-is-of-even-length

fahad lashari
fahad lashari
7,693 Points
fahad lashari
fahad lashari
7,693 Points

I didn't read the comments and never saw the comment about using round(). I just hacked together a simply solution and it worked. Hope this helps:

def sillycase(word):
    string = word[:4].lower()
    string+=word[4:8].upper()
    return string
sillycase("Treehouse")