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6.189 Exam
Session 5

Administrivia
Name:

MIT ID:

Instructions:
1. Err..complete the questions :). Warning: they do increase in difficulty.
2. No calculators, no laptops, etc.
3. When we ask for output, you DON'T have to write the spaces/newlines in.
Program Text:

print “X”,

print “X”,

Output:

XX

Day 1: Variables, Operators, and Expressions

Tips/Notes:
­ Variables are typed (this is a string, that's an integer, etc.) type(x) is a function that returns the type
of its parameter.
­ You can convert information from one type to another using the built-in conversion functions: int(x),
str(x), float(x), bool(x). These tend to fail for conversions that don't make sense, e.g. int("hello")
crashes.
­ Every variable you create should have a meaning. Give your variables names that match their

meaning: don't just name all your variables a, b, c (exception: if you're writing a quiz to test your

students, only use names like a, b, c)

Problem 1: Neophyte (hey, this was just 4 days ago)

What is the output of the following code?

Program Text:

a = 5

b = a + 7

a = 10

print b

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Output:

12

Problem 2: Type Theory

What is the type of each of the following expressions (within the type function)?

Program Text: Output:

print type(5)
int

Program Text: Output:

print type("abc")
string

Program Text: Output:

print type(True)
boolean

Program Text: Output:

print type(5.5)
float

Program Text: Output:

print type(12/27)
int

Program Text: Output:

print type(2.0/1)
float

Program Text: Output:

print type(12 ** 3)
int

Program Text: Output:

print type(5 == “5”)

boolean

Program Text:

a = str((-4 + abs(-5) / 2 ** 3) + 321 - ((64 / 16) % 4) ** 2)

print type(a)

Output:

string

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Problem 3: Expressive Expressions

What is the output of the following code?

Program Text: Output:

print 5 == 5.0
True1

Program Text: Output:

print float(1/2)
0.0

Program Text: Output:

print float(1)/2
0.5

Program Text: Output:

print 5 == "5"
false

Program Text: Output:

print "sdf" != "sdf"

false

Program Text: Output:

print True and (False or not True)

false

Program Text: Output:

print str(53) + str(True)

53true

Program Text:

a = 20
print 15-(a-15), “,”,
a = 10
print 15-(a-15),

Output:

10,20

Day 3: Conditionals
Tips/Notes:
­ The if statement executes a sequence of statements only if some condition is true. This condition
can be anything.

1
Scheme (the initial language taught at MIT before Python) took type to an extreme. 5.0 and 5 were not
considered equal because one was an integer and the other was a float. You weren’t even allowed to do (4 + 6.0.)
Python is more rational – it treats the two values as equal.
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­ elif / else is optional. Remember that at most one block of statements is executed. else occurs if
none of the above conditions are satisfied.

Problem 4: Basics
Consider the following code

Program Text:

a = ?

if a > 10 and a % 6 = 3:
print "a",
elif a > 10 and a < 20:
print "b",
else:
print "c",

Give a value for a that would produce the following outputs. If no value of a would produce that output,
write none.

Value of a: Output:

none a b

Value of a: Output:

15,21,27,… a

Value of a: Output:

11,12,…,19 (except 15) b

Value of a: Output:

Any other c

Value of a: Output:

none victory is mine!

Problem 5: Trickier Duet

Removed due to time constraints.
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Day 3: While loop

Tips/Notes:
­ A while loop allows us to repeat a sequence of statements many times.
­ You can use almost anything for the condition. Not every while loop has to be a simple counter.

Problem 6: This is not a loopy title

What is the output of the following code? If the code does not terminate, write error.

Program Text:

a = 5
while a < 8:
print "X",

Output:

Loops forever

Program Text:

a = -1
while a < 3:
print "X",
a = a + 1

Output:

XXXX

Program Text:

a = 1
while a % 7 != 0:
if a % 2 == 0:
print "O"
if a == 2:
print "X"
a = a + 1

Output:

OXOO

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Problem 7: Subtle variants

We’re going to show you variants of the same code. Write the output of each code snippet.

Program Text:

keep_going = True
a = 0
b = 0
while keep_going:
print "O"
a = a + 5
b = b + 7
if a + b >= 24:
keep_going = False
Output:

OO

We rearranged the code within the while loop here.

Program Text:

keep_going = True
a = 0
b = 0
while keep_going:
print "O"

if a + b >= 24:

keep_going = False
a = a + 5
b = b + 7
Output:

OOO

The remaining two variants are duplicates of the first two with >= replaced by >.
Program Text:

keep_going = True
a = 0
b = 0
while keep_going:
print "O"
a = a + 5
b = b + 7
if a + b > 24:
keep_going = False
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Output:

OOO

Program Text:

keep_going = True
a = 0
b = 0
while keep_going:
print "O"

if a + b > 24:

keep_going = False
a = a + 5
b = b + 7
Output:

OOOO

Day 3: Nested loops

Tips/Notes:
­ This isn't anything new, but we can put loops inside other loops. We can also do fairly crazy things:
nest a while in an if in a while in another while.
­ The break keyword exits the innermost loop.

Problem 8: Freebie!
What is the output of the following code? If the code does not terminate, write error.

Program Text:

a = 0
while a < 3:
while True:
print "X",
break
print "O",
a = a + 1

Output:

XOXOXO

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Problem 9: (insert evil laugh) ..is what I’d like to say. Still not that bad, though
What is the output of the following code? If the code does not terminate, write error.

Program Text:

a = 1
while a < 3:
while a < 3:
print "O",
a = a + 1

Output:

Loops forever

Program Text:

a = 1
while a < 3:
if a % 2 == 0:
b = 1
while b < 3:
print "X",
b = b + 1
print "O",
a = a + 1
Output:

OXXO

Extra Credit (mainly due to time constraints.) Solve this if you finish early!:
Program Text:

a = 1
while a < 3:
b = 1
while b < 3:
if a == 2:
print "X",
print "O",
b = b + 1
print "O",
Output:

Loops forever (due to typo.) Fixed, it would be

oooxoxoo

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Day 2: Functions
Tips/Notes:
­ A function is just a named sequence of statements. We usually define functions at the beginning of
code – definitions just associate the name with the sequence of statements.
­ Functions can take parameters (within the parenthesis suffix) and can return information via return
­ return is NOT a function. Like if, while, .. its a keyword: a basic command of the language.
­ You can find out more information about functions using the help(x) function, e.g. help(sqrt).
Remember to write from math import * first.

Problem 10: Sanity Check

What is the output of the following code? If the code does not terminate, write error.

Program Text:

def f(a):
a = a + 5
return a

b = 0

f(b)

print b, ",",

b = f(b)

print b

Output:

0,5

Problem 11: Last but not least (somewhere in the middle)

You know that functions can call other functions, right? Here’s an interesting fact – functions can call
themselves!

Program Text:

def f(x):

print "X",

if x <= 1:

return 1

else:

return x+f(x-1)

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Fill out the following table for the return value and output of each function call.

Function call: Return value: Output:

f(1) 1 X

Function call: Return value: Output:

f(2) 3 XX

Function call: Return value: Output:

f(3) 6 XXX

Function call: Return value: Output:

f(4) 10 XXXX
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Extra stuff
If you were reasonably comfortable with this test, here is some extra stuff that you might find useful
(you can rip this page out if you like.)
­ Don’t forget about using # to write notes/comments in your code!
­ Instead of always writing a = a + 5 or a = a / 7, you can use the shorthand a += 5 and a /= 7. Be
careful not to get confused by this notation:

Program Text:
­
­a = 5
­b = a
­a += 3
­print b #still 5

­ String stuff
• You can use either a single quotation mark (‘) or a double quotation mark for strings. The only
difference is either one can contain the other (‘This is a “test”’ is valid, “This is a ‘test’” is valid,
“This is a “test”” is not valid.)
• You can use “\n” to insert a newline (Enter key) in a string.
• You can define multi-line strings using the triple-quotation """ operator.

Program Text:
­
­ print “““Thisis a sentence.\nThis sentence is on the second line.
­ This sentenceis on the third line.
­This is on the fourth.”””
­

­ You can write a description of a function by putting a string as the first line of the function.

Program Text:
­
­ def hypo(a,b):
­ """This function returns the length of the hypotenuse defined by
­ the right triangle with side lengths a,b"""
­ return sqrt(a*a + b*b)

Try calling help(hypo) on the function you just wrote!

­ print is a keyword, not a function (like if, while, return.) There’s no particularly good reason why it’s
a keyword – future versions of Python are changing it into a function.