[Tutor] Need help solving this problem

[ayyaz]

Raj Medhekar wrote:
> I have been teaching myself Python using a book. The chapter I am on 
> currently, covers branching, while loops and program planning. I am 
> stuck on on of the challenges at the end of this chapter, and I was 
> hoping to get some help with this. Here it is:
> 
> Write a program that flips a coin 100 times and the tells you the number 
> of heads and tails.
> 
> I have tried to think about several ways to go about doing this but I 
> have hit a wall. Even though I understand the general concept of 
> branching and looping, I have been having trouble writing a program with 
> these.  I look forward to your reply that will help me understand these 
> structures better.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Raj
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Tutor maillist  -  Tutor at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor

A very simple solution

import random # you need to import this module to generate random 			 
    # numbers

heads = 0;  #init number of heads;
tails = 0;  #init number of tails;
cnt = 0     # variable to store number of coin tosses
while cnt<100:  # we want this loop to 100 times
     toss = random.randrange(0,2,1) # this line will 
randomly choose 						   # between 0 and 1
     if toss == 0:
         tails += 1 # if the random generator gives 0, then we 
increase 				   # count of tail by one
     else:
         heads += 1 # if the random generator gives 1, then we increase
		   # count of head by one 	
     cnt += 1   # increase count of coin toss by one

print "Number of heads", heads # print the number of heads
print "Number of tails", tails # print the number of tails

raw_input("\nPress enter to exit")