Why wont IF and Else statements work in Python? Python just ignores the Else statement

Question

So I'm trying to code the hypotenuse theorem into python and for some reason even if I type the letter k when asking for the letter h, it continues as if I had entered h, even though it should take me to the else saying to try again.

print ("H for hypotenuse")
typ = input(":")
if typ == "H" or "h" or "Hypotenuse" or "hypotenuse":
    print ("What Side are you missing?")
    print("A for The leg, B for the base, C for The longest side")
    side=(input(":"))
    if side == "A" or "B" or "a" or "b":
        if side == "A" or "a":
            print("What is B?")
            b = int(input(":"))
            print("What is C?")
            c = int(input(":"))
            a = int((c*c)-(b*b))
            a1 = (a/a)
            print("A is ", a1)
        else:
            print("What is A?")
            a = input(":")
            print("What is C?")
            c = input(":")
            b = (c*c)-(a*a)
            b1 = b/b
            print("B is ", b1)

    else:
        print("What is A?")
        a = input(":")
        print("What is B?")
        b = input(":")
        c = (a*a)+(b*b)
        c1 = c/c
        print("C is ", c1)
else:
    print ("Please try again")

there's something wrong with your if logic, I think you should have written it like this. if side == 'A' or side == 'B' or side == 'a' or side == 'b', and so on — Syahnur Nizam, Jan 10 '20 at 01:36
Because of operator precedence you have `if (side == "A") or "a":` Since `"a"` will evaluate to not false, you have `if (side == "A") or True:` Any `or` statement with at least one `True` evaluates to True. So your whole statement can be re-written as `if True:`. — 001, Jan 10 '20 at 01:41

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '20 at 01:36

if typ == "H" or "h" or "Hypotenuse" or "hypotenuse", if side == "A" or "B" or "a" or "b", and if side == "A" or "a" don't mean what you think they mean. Instead, you want to do if typ in {"H", "h", "Hypotenuse", "hypotenuse"}, if side in {"A", "B", "a", "b"}, and if side in {"A", "a"}.

Side note: you can simplify your code by using elif instead of nesting a duplicate check for "A" and "a".

Why wont IF and Else statements work in Python? Python just ignores the Else statement

1 Answers1