Python: formulas as elements of matrix

Question

I am calculating total cost of shipment for different countries. As input I have an initial fee and origin country and destination country. As output I would like to get the total cost. Of course depending on the origin and destination country the formula to calculate the total cost varies.

To solve this solution I thought I should use a matrix which contains the formulas needed to apply to calculate the total cost. My problem is I really dont know how to make matrix which contains formulas. Could you point me in the right direction, please?

Just to make it more understandable I made a sketch of the matrix I was thinking of below.

Input function:

totalCostCalc(init_cost, origin_country, destination_country)

Calculation matrix:

The different colors of matrix elements show the different formulas or functions applied.

Could you please help me by showing how to start, or something similar as I am really stuck.

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 25 '17 at 08:30

1

I don't know if you will prefer any other solution, but making such a matrix of formulae isn't a good thing, I would say.

I think you should create a dictionary of contries as key and their value being the continents.

So, whenever the totalCostCalc function is called, you need to just check three conditions.

def totalCostCalc(init_cost, origin_country, origin_country_fee, destination_country, destination_country_fee)
    if (origin_country == destination_country):
        return init_cost
    elif (d[origin_country] == d[destination_country]):
        return init_cost*origin_country_fee*destination_country_fee
    else:
        return init_cost*origin_country_fee*destination_country_fee*continent_fee

where d is the dictionary defined as d = {'Germany': 'Europe', 'Hungary': 'Europe', 'China': 'Asia'}.

edited Oct 25 '17 at 08:30

Ignacio Vergara Kausel

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answered Oct 25 '17 at 08:18

Miraj50

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This is a good start! Although I'd also put the fees in the dictionary for each country. The signature of the function ends up being too long. – Ignacio Vergara Kausel Oct 25 '17 at 08:29
@IgnacioVergaraKausel I was also thinking the same. But I don't know how is the OP storing it. – Miraj50 Oct 25 '17 at 08:30
Anyhow, this is a start ;) – Ignacio Vergara Kausel Oct 25 '17 at 08:31
@IgnacioVergaraKausel Also, I think the OP must have got sufficient hint to get started. :) – Miraj50 Oct 25 '17 at 08:32
Thank you for the comments. Will work it out this way. Thank you. – hunsnowboarder Oct 30 '17 at 13:22

Python: formulas as elements of matrix

1 Answers1