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Python Python Basics Functions and Looping Create a Function

Posted by Caleb Campbell
Caleb Campbell
5,747 Points

Inconsistant use of space in.....WHAT?!

Inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation?

I don't get this error message. This formatting works on my RPi and it comes out with a result. but I don't exactly understand why it is not acceptable here in the treehouse.

by the way, the end result is: 259081

squaring.py 
def square(number):
    result =number*number 
    print (result)
square(509)

1 Answer

Jennifer Nordell
seal-mask
STAFF
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Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Hi there! Something has happened when copy/pasting over. This is not so much a problem with the challenge as it is something specific to Python. Python is highly sensitive to whitespace. It uses indentation to determine where a code block starts and ends. Because of this, you may not have a mix of indentation methods inside the same python file. You may not indent one line using spaces and then indent the next line with a tab. This is when this error occurs. You will need to erase the indentations here and make sure you use the same method on each line.

Once you fix that, there will still be a problem The challenge asks you to return the result, but you are printing the result. Also, you do not need to call the function yourself. Treehouse will do that for you and send in a number of its choosing.

Hope this helps! :sparkles: