[Tutor] Mathematical operations on a list

[Alan Gauld]

On 20/10/2021 21:59, JUDE EJEPU wrote:
> Sir,
> I created a function to calculate a variable G
> def gfactor(dist,electro):
>        G = pie_value() * (dist**2 - electro**2)/(2*electro)
>     return G
> 
> So I tried an example and it worked.
> gFactor(10,2) ----> 75.408
> However, when I passed a list of arguments,:
> x = [1, 2, 3]
> y = [0.5, 0.5, 1]
> gFactor(x,y), I got an error

I'm not sure what you expected to happen but that's
what I would expect.

dist = x = [1,2,3]

What do you think [1,2,3]**2 should equal?
What is a list squared?

> Please, how may I correct the function?

I suspect you may be confusing Python lists with vectors?
If that the case you probably need to look at the
SciPy/numpy libraries.

If you do want to use lists of numbers as input then you
will need to process the lists inside your function. I've
no idea what you expected to happen so I can't advise
you on how to do tHat processing, but it probably
involves some kind of loop.

And if you want to be able to pass both lists and single
values then you'll need to test the types of the input
at the top of the function and branch accordingly.

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
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