Question

I want to be able to print symbols that represent numbers using functions and while loops

Ex:

number = 250
# symbols 
C = 100
^ = 50

should print

CC^

While printing one function may work, trying to concatenate two or more print functions lead me to the type error:

TypeError: can't multiply sequence by non-int of type 'function'

number = 251;
def numeral_C(number_par):
  while number_par >=100:
    numeral_C = number_par / 100
    print "C"*numeral_C,
    number_par = number_par - numeral_C*100
  return ""
def numeral_UpArrow(number_par):
  while number_par >=50:
    numeral_upArrow = number_par / 50
    print "^"*numeral_UpArrow, #error
    number_par = number_par - numeral_UpArrow*50
  return ""
etruscan_C = str(numeral_C(number))
etruscan_UpArrow = str(numeral_UpArrow(number)) #error

print etruscan_C+etruscan_UpArrow

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Applications/Wing IDE/WingIDE.app/Contents/MacOS/src/debug/tserver/_sandbox.py", line 15, in 
  File "/Applications/Wing IDE/WingIDE.app/Contents/MacOS/src/debug/tserver/_sandbox.py", line 11, in numeral_UpArrow

**TypeError: can't multiply sequence by non-int of type 'function'

I wonder, Is there a way I can print two or more functions without getting the error?

Answer 1

As the others state, you have a problem in re-using in an assignment something that is already the same name as a function:

def numeral_C(number_par):
   while number_par >=100:
      #this numeral_C is already a known function name, now youre reusing it as an int
      numeral_C = number_par / 100
      #you're using print inside a function, not a best practice, but.....
      print "C"*numeral_C,
      #uncomment the below line to see why the loop is unnecessary
      #print '%d = %d - %d' % (number_par - numeral_C*100, number_par, numeral_C*100)
      number_par = number_par - numeral_C*100
   return ""
   #you're printing, rather than returning, making this useless, and you're str()-ing the "" on return

number = 25101;
etruscan_C = str(numeral_C(number))
print

def numeral_c(number_par):
   num_c = number_par / 100
   return 'C'*num_c

print numeral_c(number)

As you can see by the comments, a simple rename of your function will cure this, and perhaps even a rename of your variable. But onto what I consider the ‘larger’ problem…

I feel like your original math makes a needless loop. compare the behavior of your numeral_C with my numeral_c: both result in the same numeral-C, but one is more re-usable (by having the ‘C’ return as a string) and also it lacks a loop and lots of reassignments.

Realistically, I cannot find a case when the loop will happen a second time, based on your reassignment of number_par to subtract the nearest FLOORED 100-multiple. In other words, much of that logic is useless. You could reasonably accomplish that whole function with:

'C'*int(number/100)