Python Basic Exercise for Beginners

This Python essential exercise is to help Python beginners to learn necessary Python skills quickly.

Immerse yourself in the practice of Python’s foundational concepts, such as loops, control flow, data types, operators, list, strings, input-output, and built-in functions. This beginner’s exercise is certain to elevate your understanding of Python.

What questions are included in this Python fundamental exercise?

• The exercise contains 15 programs to solve. The hint and solution is provided for each question.
• I have added tips and required learning resources for each question, which will help you solve the exercise. When you complete each question, you get more familiar with the basics of Python.

Exercise 1: Calculate the multiplication and sum of two numbers

Given two integer numbers, return their product only if the product is equal to or lower than 1000. Otherwise, return their sum.

number1 = 20
number2 = 30

The result is 600

number1 = 40
number2 = 30

The result is 70

Refer:

• Accept user input in Python
• Calculate an Average in Python

def multiplication_or_sum(num1, num2):
    # calculate product of two number
    product = num1 * num2
    # check if product is less then 1000
    if product <= 1000:
        return product
    else:
        # product is greater than 1000 calculate sum
        return num1 + num2

# first condition
result = multiplication_or_sum(20, 30)
print("The result is", result)

# Second condition
result = multiplication_or_sum(40, 30)
print("The result is", result)

Exercise 2: Print the sum of the current number and the previous number

Write a program to iterate the first 10 numbers, and in each iteration, print the sum of the current and previous number.

Expected Output:

Printing current and previous number sum in a range(10)
Current Number 0 Previous Number  0  Sum:  0
Current Number 1 Previous Number  0  Sum:  1
Current Number 2 Previous Number  1  Sum:  3
Current Number 3 Previous Number  2  Sum:  5
Current Number 4 Previous Number  3  Sum:  7
Current Number 5 Previous Number  4  Sum:  9
Current Number 6 Previous Number  5  Sum:  11
Current Number 7 Previous Number  6  Sum:  13
Current Number 8 Previous Number  7  Sum:  15
Current Number 9 Previous Number  8  Sum:  17

Reference article for help:

• Python range() function
• Calculate sum and average in Python

print("Printing current and previous number and their sum in a range(10)")
previous_num = 0

# loop from 1 to 10
for i in range(1, 11):
    x_sum = previous_num + i
    print("Current Number", i, "Previous Number ", previous_num, " Sum: ", x_sum)
    # modify previous number
    # set it to the current number
    previous_num = i

Exercise 3: Print characters from a string that are present at an even index number

Write a program to accept a string from the user and display characters that are present at an even index number.

For example, str = "pynative" so you should display ‘p’, ‘n’, ‘t’, ‘v’.

Expected Output:

Orginal String is  pynative
Printing only even index chars
p
n
t
v

Reference article for help: Python Input and Output

# accept input string from a user
word = input('Enter word ')
print("Original String:", word)

# get the length of a string
size = len(word)

# iterate a each character of a string
# start: 0 to start with first character
# stop: size-1 because index starts with 0
# step: 2 to get the characters present at even index like 0, 2, 4
print("Printing only even index chars")
for i in range(0, size - 1, 2):
    print("index[", i, "]", word[i])

# accept input string from a user
word = input('Enter word ')
print("Original String:", word)

# using list slicing
# convert string to list
# pick only even index chars
x = list(word)
for i in x[0::2]:
    print(i)

Exercise 4: Remove first n characters from a string

Write a program to remove characters from a string starting from zero up to n and return a new string.

For example:

• remove_chars("pynative", 4) so output must be tive. Here, we need to remove the first four characters from a string.
• remove_chars("pynative", 2) so output must be native. Here, we need to remove the first two characters from a string.

Note: n must be less than the length of the string.

def remove_chars(word, n):
    print('Original string:', word)
    x = word[n:]
    return x

print("Removing characters from a string")
print(remove_chars("pynative", 4))
print(remove_chars("pynative", 2))

Also, try to solve Python String Exercise

Exercise 5: Check if the first and last number of a list is the same

Write a function to return True if the first and last number of a given list is same. If numbers are different then return False.

Given:

numbers_x = [10, 20, 30, 40, 10]
numbers_y = [75, 65, 35, 75, 30]

Expected Output:

Given list: [10, 20, 30, 40, 10]
result is True

numbers_y = [75, 65, 35, 75, 30]
result is False

def first_last_same(numberList):
    print("Given list:", numberList)
    
    first_num = numberList[0]
    last_num = numberList[-1]
    
    if first_num == last_num:
        return True
    else:
        return False

numbers_x = [10, 20, 30, 40, 10]
print("result is", first_last_same(numbers_x))

numbers_y = [75, 65, 35, 75, 30]
print("result is", first_last_same(numbers_y))

Exercise 6: Display numbers divisible by 5 from a list

Iterate the given list of numbers and print only those numbers which are divisible by 5

Expected Output:

Given list is  [10, 20, 33, 46, 55]
Divisible by 5
10
20
55

num_list = [10, 20, 33, 46, 55]
print("Given list:", num_list)
print('Divisible by 5:')
for num in num_list:
    if num % 5 == 0:
        print(num)

Also, try to solve Python list Exercise

Exercise 7: Return the count of a given substring from a string

Write a program to find how many times substring “Emma” appears in the given string.

Given:

str_x = "Emma is good developer. Emma is a writer"

Expected Output:

Emma appeared 2 times

str_x = "Emma is good developer. Emma is a writer"
# use count method of a str class
cnt = str_x.count("Emma")
print(cnt)

def count_emma(statement):
    print("Given String: ", statement)
    count = 0
    for i in range(len(statement) - 1):
        count += statement[i: i + 4] == 'Emma'
    return count

count = count_emma("Emma is good developer. Emma is a writer")
print("Emma appeared ", count, "times")

Exercise 8: Print the following pattern

1 
2 2 
3 3 3 
4 4 4 4 
5 5 5 5 5

Hint: Print Pattern using for loop

for num in range(10):
    for i in range(num):
        print (num, end=" ") #print number
    # new line after each row to display pattern correctly
    print("\n")

Exercise 9: Check Palindrome Number

Write a program to check if the given number is a palindrome number.

A palindrome number is a number that is the same after reverse. For example, 545, is the palindrome numbers

Expected Output:

original number 121
Yes. given number is palindrome number

original number 125
No. given number is not palindrome number

def palindrome(number):
    print("original number", number)
    original_num = number
    
    # reverse the given number
    reverse_num = 0
    while number > 0:
        reminder = number % 10
        reverse_num = (reverse_num * 10) + reminder
        number = number // 10

    # check numbers
    if original_num == reverse_num:
        print("Given number palindrome")
    else:
        print("Given number is not palindrome")

palindrome(121)
palindrome(125)

Exercise 10: Create a new list from two list using the following condition

Create a new list from two list using the following condition

Given two list of numbers, write a program to create a new list such that the new list should contain odd numbers from the first list and even numbers from the second list.

Given:

list1 = [10, 20, 25, 30, 35]
list2 = [40, 45, 60, 75, 90]

Expected Output:

result list: [25, 35, 40, 60, 90]

def merge_list(list1, list2):
    result_list = []
    
    # iterate first list
    for num in list1:
        # check if current number is odd
        if num % 2 != 0:
            # add odd number to result list
            result_list.append(num)
    
    # iterate second list
    for num in list2:
        # check if current number is even
        if num % 2 == 0:
            # add even number to result list
            result_list.append(num)
    return result_list

list1 = [10, 20, 25, 30, 35]
list2 = [40, 45, 60, 75, 90]
print("result list:", merge_list(list1, list2))

Note: Try to solve the Python list Exercise

Exercise 11: Write a Program to extract each digit from an integer in the reverse order.

For example, If the given int is 7536, the output shall be “6 3 5 7“, with a space separating the digits.

number = 7536
print("Given number", number)
while number > 0:
    # get the last digit
    digit = number % 10
    # remove the last digit and repeat the loop
    number = number // 10
    print(digit, end=" ")

Exercise 12: Calculate income tax for the given income by adhering to the rules below

Expected Output:

For example, suppose the taxable income is 45000, and the income tax payable is

10000*0% + 10000*10%  + 25000*20% = $6000.

income = 45000
tax_payable = 0
print("Given income", income)

if income <= 10000:
    tax_payable = 0
elif income <= 20000:
    # no tax on first 10,000
    x = income - 10000
    # 10% tax
    tax_payable = x * 10 / 100
else:
    # first 10,000
    tax_payable = 0

    # next 10,000 10% tax
    tax_payable = 10000 * 10 / 100

    # remaining 20%tax
    tax_payable += (income - 20000) * 20 / 100

print("Total tax to pay is", tax_payable)

Exercise 13: Print multiplication table from 1 to 10

Expected Output:

1  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 		
2  4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 		
3  6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 		
4  8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 		
5  10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 		
6  12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 		
7  14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 		
8  16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 		
9  18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90 		
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 

See: How two use nested loops in Python

for i in range(1, 11):
    for j in range(1, 11):
        print(i * j, end=" ")
    print("\t\t")

Exercise 14: Print a downward Half-Pyramid Pattern of Star (asterisk)

* * * * *  
* * * *  
* * *  
* *  
*

Hint: Print Pattern using for loop

for i in range(6, 0, -1):
    for j in range(0, i - 1):
        print("*", end=' ')
    print(" ")

Exercise 15: Write a function called exponent(base, exp) that returns an int value of base raises to the power of exp.

Note here exp is a non-negative integer, and the base is an integer.

Expected output

base = 2
exponent = 5

2 raises to the power of 5: 32 i.e. (2 *2 * 2 *2 *2 = 32)

base = 5
exponent = 4

5 raises to the power of 4 is: 625 
i.e. (5 *5 * 5 *5 = 625)

def exponent(base, exp):
    num = exp
    result = 1
    while num > 0:
        result = result * base
        num = num - 1
    print(base, "raises to the power of", exp, "is: ", result)

exponent(5, 4)

Next Steps

I want to hear from you. What do you think of this basic exercise? If you have better alternative answers to the above questions, please help others by commenting on this exercise.

I have shown only 15 questions in this exercise because we have Topic-specific exercises to cover each topic exercise in detail. Please solve all Python exercises.