Question

I’m doing the challenges on Project Euler to get better at python (I am a beginner) and I am trying to do Problem 9.

vara = lista[-1]
varb = listb[-1]
varc = listc[-1]

while not(vara < varb < varc):
listb.pop(-1)
lista.pop(-1)
lista.pop(-1)
if ((vara * vara) + (varb * varb) == varc * varc):
    print vara, varb, varc
else:
listc.pop(-1)
if ((vara * vara) + (varb * varb) == varc * varc):
    print vara, varb, varc
else:
    listb.pop(-1)
    if ((vara * vara) + (varb * varb) == varc * varc):
        print vara, varb, varc
    else:
        lista.pop(-1)

I have tried many methods to get lista/listb/listc to have the values from 1 – 1000 but none of them really seem to work

lista = range(1, 1000)
lista = range[1, 1000]

etc

Answer 1

To generate values from 1 to 1000 you need to specify the ending value as 1000 + 1, i.e., 1001. So

Python 2.x

# python 2.x
liasta = range(1, 1001)

Python 3.x

# python 3.x
liasta = list(range(1, 1001))

will give you a list of values from 1 to 1000.

range() uses a half-closed interval, meaning it includes the first value in the list of values it generates, but excludes the last one. Note that if you don’t specify a starting value, range() will default to 0. You can also specify an increment value, which defaults to 1 unless otherwise specified.

Three examples from the doc page:

>>> range(10)
[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

>>> range(1, 11)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

>>> range(0, 30, 5)
[0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25]