code printing wrong answer

Question

Write a function first_last6(nums) that takes a list of ints nums and returns True if 6 appears as either the first or last element in the list. The list will be of length 1 or more.

My code:

def first_last6(nums):
    if nums[0] or nums[-1] == "6":
        return True
    else:
        return False

It is not returning the right answer for this test:

print(first_last6([3, 2, 1]))

its suppose to be False, while it prints True.

possible duplicate of [Why does \`a == b or c or d\` always evaluate to True?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20002503/why-does-a-b-or-c-or-d-always-evaluate-to-true) — inspectorG4dget, Apr 23 '15 at 01:41
possible duplicate of [How do I test one variable against multiple values?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15112125/how-do-i-test-one-variable-against-multiple-values) — Blckknght, Apr 23 '15 at 01:46

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 23 '15 at 03:08

0

The original test checks if nums[0] is True or if nums[-1] is 6, to check if either is 6, should use:

if nums[0] == 6 or nums[-1] == 6:

answered Apr 23 '15 at 03:08

niuer

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Also make sure that it is 6 and not "6" like in NeilZ answer – jwillis0720 Apr 23 '15 at 03:23

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 03 '21 at 16:19

Your code should be like this:

def first_last6(nums):
    if (nums[0] == 6) or (nums[-1] == 6):
        return True
    else:
        return False

In your original code, you check if the first element of the list evaluates to True (bool(1) is True in python). Instead, check if it is equal 6. And you check if the last element of the list is "6", instead of checking for 6. A test in the interactive interpreter:

>>> 6 == "6"
False
>>> 6 == 6
True
>>> bool(1)
True

code printing wrong answer

2 Answers2