Summing Divisors with While Loop and If Statement

Question

Beginner here. I tried to sum all divisors of a number but the number itself. I wrote a code without using elif.

def sum_divisors(n):
sum = 0
divisor = 1

while divisor < n:
    if n == 0:
        return 0
    else:
        n % divisor == 0
        sum += divisor
        divisor += 1

return sum

print(sum_divisors(0))
# 0
print(sum_divisors(3))  # Should sum of 1
# 1
print(sum_divisors(36))  # Should sum of 1+2+3+4+6+9+12+18
# 55
print(sum_divisors(102))  # Should be sum of 2+3+6+17+34+51
# 114

I got the answers 0, 1, 630 and 5151. Then, I rewrote the code by using elif. Got the right answers.

    def sum_divisors(n):
sum = 0
divisor = 1

while divisor < n:
    if n == 0:
        return 0
    elif n % divisor == 0:
        sum += divisor
        divisor += 1
    else:
        divisor += 1

return sum

print(sum_divisors(0))
print(sum_divisors(3))
print(sum_divisors(36))
print(sum_divisors(102))

There is something wrong in the first attempt, I feel it but I can’t explain it. Is it related to the order of operations? Can someone explain what’s going on in the execution of the first code?

Asked By: Meer75

||

Source

Answer 1

You declared a statement with no usage n % divisor == 0 And in the second code block it is an elif statement. That’s why the first code is not working – you have checked whether it is True but you did not add an elif statement and what should be executed there.

Answered By: Aleksander Ikleiw

Answer 2

def sum_divisors(n):
    sum1 = 0
    divisor = 1
    while divisor < n:
        if n == 0:
            return 0
        elif n % divisor == 0:
            sum1 += divisor
            divisor += 1
        else:
            divisor += 1
    return sum1

print(sum_divisors(36))
print(sum_divisors(102))

Answered By: Sandeep PC

Summing Divisors with While Loop and If Statement

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