Programming in Python

I'm writing a program for class and I am struggling. Python is the programming software we use. The task:

User inputs-
enter the number of mouse traps (ie. 60 is our test number)
are you an iowa resident? (y/n)

Outputs-
Subtotal (ie. 115)
Tax (ie. 0 if iowa resident is answered n, 6.9 if iowa resident is answered y)
Total (ie. 115 or 121.9, depending on tax)

My code so far is attached. When I run the code, I get a sytax error at the colon after if res == y:
I'm not sure what to do to make this work. I've tried everything I know.

 

I did python my first semester in college.

Is raw_input("") a valid input reading code? i've never seen that.

 

raw_input is used when the input is a string and input is for integers.

 

Try this:

if res == 'y':
blah blah blah
else:
blah blah blah

The variable 'res' is a string. You need to compare it to a string. Without the quotes around y, Python considers it a variable and not a string. Hope this helps!

 

Tried it and I get the same syntax error. I'm gonna leave it like this though, since you are probably correct.

 

Upon further inspection, the raw_input line in your attached image is missing a closing parentheses. I changed mine to match yours and I get the same error. Make sure you have closed off your parentheses in raw_input.

 

x2, thats what i was thinking the error could be coming from

 

You are correct sir! Can't believe I missed that! Thank you much.

 

...also, you can add a slight bit of robustness/improvement when dealing w/ string comparisons...

for example:

instead of;

if res == "y":

use;

if res.strip() == "y":

the strip method will remove any leading and trailing whitespace from strings...

also, you may want to ensure that the "case" doesn't matter;

if res.lower() == "y":