Learn Arguments | What Is a Function in Python?

In Python, function arguments are the inputs you provide to a function when calling it. They let the function use specific data or values. Arguments can be single values or objects such as lists, tuples, dictionaries, or custom objects.

For instance, the print() function takes a string as an argument.

If you want to create a function that calculates and prints the sum of two numbers, you must pass both numbers to the function inside parentheses ().


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# Specify two arguments of the function
def sum_of_two_numbers(num_1, num_2):
	# Use arguments to calculate sum
	result = num_1 + num_2
    # Print the result
	print(f'Sum of two numbers is {result}')
 
# Call the function 
sum_of_two_numbers(2, 10)

You have passed num_1 and num_2 as arguments to the function and used them to calculate their sum. You can define any number of function arguments.

Now, consider an example where a list is used as an argument for a function:


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# Define the function `calculate_list_sum`
def calculate_list_sum(list):
    # Initialize the total sum to 0
    total = 0
    # Iterate through each number in the list
    for num in list:
        # Add the current number to the total sum
        total += num
    # Print the total sum
    print(total)

# Create a list of numbers
my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
# Call the function 
calculate_list_sum(my_list)

This code defines a function calculate_list_sum that takes a list of numbers, calculates their sum by adding each number to the total variable, and prints the result. The function is called with the list my_list, containing the numbers [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], and outputs the sum, which is 15.

Task

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Assume that you have to calculate perimeter of the triangle with sides a, b and c.

Pass three arguments: a, b, and c to the function calculate_triangle_perimeter.
In the function, calculate the perimeter by adding the three sides together.

Solution

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Section 1. Chapter 3

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