newbie question: converting integer to string

[adina_levin at mindspring.com]

I would like to convert a variable, which represents an integer, to a
string.

To convert an integer to a string, one simply encloses the string in quotes.

e.g.
>>> '42'
'42'

But how do you do this if the integer is represented by a variable?

>>> num=42

how can I generate a string representation of num?

Thank you very much,

- Adina