Help needed

[Leela]

Can someone help me with this little beginner's program, please?
It works when I try it without the input part - just writing the definition and calling the function in the editor:

Python:

def check_fermat (a,b,c,n):         if a**n + b**n == c**n and n > 2:                 print "Fermat was wrong!"         else:                 print "Fermat was correct"         check_fermat (3,4,6,3)

But when I try to work with an input, and making it an actual program, it evaluates:

code:

TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for ** or pow(): 'str' and 'str'

This is the version that doesn't work:

Python:

def check_fermat (a,b,c,n):        if a**n + b**n == c**n and n > 2:         print "Fermat was wrong!"     else:         print "Fermat was correct" x=raw_input ("Enter x: ") y=raw_input ("Enter y: ") z=raw_input ("Enter z: ") n=raw_input ("Enter n: ") check_fermat (x,y,z,n)

I also tried it like this (without definitions or function calls):

Python:

a=raw_input ("Enter a: ") b=raw_input ("Enter b: ") c=raw_input ("Enter c: ") n=raw_input ("Enter n: ") if a**n + b**n == c**n and n > 2:         print "Fermat was wrong!" else:         print "Fermat was correct"

Same error.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Mod Edit: Remember to use syntax tags! Thanks

code:

[syntax="python"]Code Here[/syntax]

[Leela]

I think I've got it. I should have converted the input to integers. Here's my (finally!) working version:

Python:

a = raw_input ("Enter a: ") b = raw_input ("Enter b: ") c = raw_input ("Enter c: ") n = raw_input ("Enter n: ")    if int(a)**int(n)+int(b)**int(n)==int(c)**int(n):     print "Holy smokes, Fermat was wrong!" else:     print "Yep, Fermat was correct" raw_input('press Return>')

Any suggestion to make it neater?

[Alexmula]

use a = input("Enter a: ") instead of the raw_input. raw_input expects string values

[Leela]

Alexmula @ Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:16 pm wrote:

use a = input("Enter a: ") instead of the raw_input. raw_input expects string values

Oh, that's why Python interpreted my assignments as strings! Well, this is how my textbook taught me to enter inputs; I will know better from now on.
Huge thanks!

[wtd]

Especially with Python, you will need to use code tags to preserve indentation.

[Leela]

wtd @ Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:32 pm wrote:

Especially with Python, you will need to use code tags to preserve indentation.

Thanks, I can see now how it should be posted.