Stupid Python Question

[Sarai the Geek]

Okay, as I said in the title, it is so insanely basic I'm embarrassed that I can't figure it out. I've run umpteenth google searches and have found nothing.

I can't get python to divide. At all. I'm doing some number crunching for a research paper and I need to run the same basic equation over and over again with a single variable, soI figured that writing a quick program could speed things up, but so far I've just ended up pulling a lot of my hair out.

Here's my code:

import math

indiv = raw_input("# of Individuals: ")
dens = indiv/3
print dens

But every time I try to run it it lets me define indiv then spits this out:

File "popecodens.py", line 4, in <module>
dens = spec/3.0
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'float'


Gah! What am I missing?

[dandaman0061]

You need to convert the input into a float or int.



indiv = raw_input("# of Individuals: ")
indiv = int(indiv) # <--- convert the input
dens = indiv/3
print dens


oh and you also don't need to 'import math'... at least for what you've posted here.

[Occasionally Correct]

raw_input() returns a string. You could try


indiv = int(raw_input("..."))although you may want to ensure that the input is correct. Hope that helps. :)

edit: seconds late! Oh well. ;)

[Can+~]

Since you're using this for yourself, there's no problem on using "input" instead of "raw_input"

(Also, in python3, input() is the new raw_input())

[Sarai the Geek]

Sweet, it works now! Thank you so much, guys, also thanks for not making me feel like a total idiot. :)

[Sarai the Geek]

Oh, one more question. Is there a way to set it to repeat indefinitely, so for example my terminal would like like myeh:

sarai@Sarai-Laptop:~/Desktop$ python popecoreldens.py
Species density: .66
0.0232047112596
Species density: 193
6.78562011075


and on and on until I close the terminal?

[sekinto]

A while loop.


from time import sleep
while True:
CODE
sleep(SECONDS)

Replace CODE with the code you want to run. Replace SECONDS with the number of seconds you want to pause between each execution.

[Sarai the Geek]

A while loop.


from time import sleep
while True:
CODE
sleep(SECONDS)Replace CODE with the code you want to run. Replace SECONDS with the number of seconds you want to pause between each execution.

Perfection.
Thanks again!