# 2.18. Chapter Assessment¶

There is a function we are providing in for you in this problem called square. It takes one integer and returns the square of that integer value. Write code to assign a variable called xyz the value 5*5 (five squared). Use the square function, rather than just multiplying with *.

Write code to assign the number of characters in the string rv to a variable num_chars.

The code below initializes two variables, z and y. We want to assign the total number of characters in z and in y to the variable a. Which of the following solutions, if any, would be considered hard coding?

z = "hello world"
y = "welcome!"

• a = len("hello worldwelcome!")
• Though we are using the len function here, we are hardcoding what len should return the length of. We are not referencing z or y.
• a = 11 + 8
• This is hardcoding, we are writing in the value without referencing z or y.
• a = len(z) + len(y)
• This is not considered hard coding. We are using the function len to determine the length of what is stored in z and y, which is a correct way to approach this problem.
• a = len("hello world") + len("welcome!")
• Though we are using the len function here, we are hardcoding what len should return the length of each time we call len. We are not referencing z or y.
• none of the above are hardcoding.
• At least one of these solutions is considered hardcoding. Take another look.

(This is not an assessment question) The code below defines functions used by one of the questions above. Do not modify the code, but feel free to take a look.