Practice Math – the Python Edition

One of my projects this Summer is to create a working version of my Practice Math project. The goal of this project is to create a site that my kids can use to practice their math.

The idea was to create a simple site that would randomly generate math equations that kids could use to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. To do this, the site would need to have the following functions, at least in the first phase of my project:

1. Randomly generate two numbers, and a math operator to create an equation;
2. Evaluate the solution to the equation;
3. Prompt the child to offer an answer to the equation;
4. Compare the child’s answer with the actual solution, and give feedback;
5. Make sure that equations don’t produce negative solutions (our kids haven’t really learned how to work with numbers less than zero); and
6. Round answers to two decimal places (it can be more than this, I just picked two decimal places for now).

Version 1 – the Javascript Edition

My initial version of the project was based on Javascript. You can find that one here, on GitHub. I wasn’t able to make much progress beyond randomly generating the numbers and math operators that would be used in equations.

I hadn’t worked out how to evaluate the randomly generated numbers, more move much beyond point two in my list of features. I’m certain it’s possible, I just hadn’t worked it out yet.

Version 2 – the Python Edition

I recently decided to return to learning Python. I last attempted to learn Python about a year and a half ago. At the time, I was learning Python 2.7.x. I didn’t move beyond loops at the time.

This time, I decided to start with Python 3.x, which is the current version. I’ve been learning when I have time, and I really like the language. I decided to revisit my Practice Math project and create a Python version to help me learn the language.

I finally sat down this morning, and worked on a script that does all six of the things I want it to do. I’ve published my code on GitHub, here. Here it is in action:

I can’t take credit for what you see there, not entirely. I borrowed pretty heavily from a few sources to produce the version you see there:

Cory Kramer’s solution (the third one in this list) was particularly helpful because it helped me split my code into disparate functions. This makes the script a lot easier to read, and tweak.

My current code still has some test stuff in it. For example, the script current prints the two generated numbers, the operator, and the solution so I can check that it’s all working properly:

 print("\nThis is for troubleshooting purposes only:") print(num1) # For testing print(num2) # For testing print(op) # For testing print("\nWhat is {} {} {}? > ".format(num1, op, num2)) solution = round(eval(f"{num1} {op} {num2}"), 2) print(solution) # For testing 

Next steps

The next step is to create a web interface for this. A command line version is fine to play around with, but for this to be useful, it needs to be a web site. I haven’t worked out how to add a Javascript front-end to this (I believe it’s possible, I have no idea how to do it, though).

What I’ll rather do, though, is use a Python web framework like Django to create a front end for the site. I’m really keen to learn how to do that, partly because I want to port my Modiin Bus project over to Python too at some point (I discovered that the transit data that I’d like to use is available through Python APIs).

At the same time, I also intend figuring out how to represent fractions in the web interface. I know that’s it’s possible to use Javascript to represent fractions on a web page using options such as math.js and MathJax. I’ll look for equivalent options for Python/Django.

There are also a couple niggling issues about the current version that I’d like to resolve too. These likely exist because I’m still very much a Python newbie.

I’m sure there are other improvements I could make to how the script accepts, and processes input from users. I’ll figure that stuff out as I go. For now, I’m pretty please that this core script seems to be working.

By Paul

Enthusiast, writer, Happiness Engineer at Automattic. I take photos too. Passionate about my wife, Gina and #proudDad.

1. Sounds like a cool project. Some extra features to consider:

Once you’ve got user management and answer tracking, you could build a leaderboard to display who’s “winning” at math or per question type and make learning/practising more fun and social.

1. Hey, I’ve been thinking along similar lines, although probably not with a leaderboard. I think it will be more useful as a personal learning site, as opposed to a social/competitive site.

Still, I might change my thinking about it when I’ve sorted out the web/admin sides.

2. My Summer project is to finish an initial version of my Practice Math site for our kids. I’ve hit a bit of a snag with fractions, but the functionality for whole numbers is almost ready.
The next step is to create a web site for the project so our kids can use the app through their browsers, rather than using the command line (somehow, I don’t think a CLI interface will grab our kids).
My plan was to learn Django, and use that to create a front-end for my Python back-end. I decided to follow along with Brad Traversy to help me learn how to create a basic Django app. It was a little trickier than I expected, and I hit a snag with my database configuration.
I then thought I’d take a look at Flask, and see if that would be a little easier for me to grok. I noticed that Corey Schafer has a Flask tutorial series where you build a basic blog with Python and Flask, so I decided to work through Schafer’s tutorial videos.

This has proven to be a terrific idea. Schafer’s tutorials are detailed, and really clear. There are times when he speeds up a little but, for the most part, I can follow along pretty comfortably, and understand what he’s doing.
Even though the goal of Schafer’s series is to build a blog, it covers a range of topics that I can incorporate into Practice Math down the line. It’s really an awesome introduction to building web sites with Flask, and well worth the time.
Not only does Schafer take you through the process, step-by-step, but he also provides links to snapshots of his code at each step of the process, along with useful code snippets in his GitHub repos.
You probably need about an hour for each episode. I binged for most of today (I’m on vacation this week), and worked through about four or five videos.
If you’re interested in Corey Schafer, listen to this TalkPython interview with him:

On a related, side note, working through this tutorial series just reinforces how glad I am that I returned to Python to start learning it (again). I still have a long way to go, but it feels like I’m picking up bits of it easier than I did with JavaScript.
I’ll return to JavaScript, for sure (you can’t really ignore JavaScript these days). For now, though, I love all the things I’m learning to do with Python.
Featured image by Sharon McCutcheon

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