Starting out with Python

Fifth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 3
Decision Structures and
Boolean Logic

3-1
Topics

 The if Statement
 The if-else Statement
 Comparing Strings
 Nested Decision Structures and the if-
elif-else Statement
 Logical Operators
 Boolean Variables

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The if Statement (1 of 5)
 Control structure: logical design that
controls order in which set of statements
execute
 Sequence structure: set of statements that
execute in the order they appear
 Decision structure: specific action(s)
performed only if a condition exists
 Also known as selection structure

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The if Statement (2 of 5)
 In flowchart, diamond represents
true/false condition that must be tested
 Actions can be conditionally executed
 Performed only when a condition is true
 Single alternative decision structure:
provides only one alternative path of
execution
 If condition is not true, exit the structure

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The if Statement (3 of 5)

Figure 3-1 A simple decision structure

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The if Statement (4 of 5)

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The if Statement (5 of 5)
 Python syntax:
if condition:
Statement
Statement
 First line known as the if clause
 Includes the keyword if followed by
condition
 The condition can be true or false
 When the if statement executes, the condition
is tested, and if it is true the block statements
are executed. otherwise, block statements are
skipped

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Boolean Expressions and
Relational Operators (1 of 5)
 Boolean expression: expression tested
by if statement to determine if it is true
or false
 Example: a>b
 true if a is greater than b; false
otherwise
 Relational operator: determines
whether a specific relationship exists
between two values
 Example: greater than (>)

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Boolean Expressions and
Relational Operators (2 of 5)
 >= and <= operators test more than one
relationship
 It is enough for one of the relationships to
exist for the expression to be true
 == operator determines whether the two
operands are equal to one another
 Do not confuse with assignment operator
(=)
 != operator determines whether the two
operands are not equal

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Boolean Expressions and
Relational Operators (3 of 5)
Table 3-2 Boolean expressions using relational operators
Expression Meaning
x > y Is x greater than y?
x < y Is x less than y?
x >= y Is x greater than or equal to y?
x <= y Is x less than or equal to y?
x == y Is x equal to y?
x != y Is x not equal to y?

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Boolean Expressions and
Relational Operators (4 of 5)
 Using a Boolean expression with the > relational
operator

Figure 3-3 Example decision structure

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Boolean Expressions and
Relational Operators (5 of 5)
 Any relational operator can be used in a
decision block
 Example: if balance == 0
 Example: if payment != balance
 It is possible to have a block inside
another block
 Example: if statement inside a function
 Statements in inner block must be
indented with respect to the outer block

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Example
 Create the program of the following
pseudocode:

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Solution
HIGH_SCORE = 95
test1 = int(input('Enter the score for test 1: ' ))
test2 = int(input('Enter the score for test 2: ' ))
test3 = int(input('Enter the score for test 3: ' ))
# Calculate the average test score.
average = (test1 + test2 + test3) / 3
# Print the average.
print(f'The average score is {average}.')
# If the average is a high score,
# congratulate the user.
if average >= HIGH_SCORE:
print('Congratulations!')
print('That is a great average!')

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The if-else Statement (1 of 3)

 Dual alternative decision structure: two

possible paths of execution
– One is taken if the condition is true, and
the other if the condition is false
 Syntax: if condition:
statements
else:
other statements
 if clause and else clause must be
aligned
 Statements must be consistently indented

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The if-else Statement (2 of 3)

Figure 3-5 A dual alternative decision structure

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The if-else Statement (3 of 3)

Figure 3-6 Conditional execution in an if-else statement

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Example

 If any employee works over 40 hours in a

week, he pays them 1.5 times their regular
hourly pay rate for all hours over 40.
 Write a program with the following
pseudocode:
 Get the number of hours worked.
 Get the hourly pay rate.
 If the employee worked more than 40 hours:
Calculate and display the gross pay with
overtime.
 Else:
Calculate and display the gross pay as usual.

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BASE_HOURS = 40 # Base hours per week
OT_MULTIPLIER = 1.5 # Overtime multiplier
hours = float(input('Enter the number of hours worked: '))
pay_rate = float(input('Enter the hourly pay rate: '))
if hours > BASE_HOURS:
overtime_hours = hours − BASE_HOURS
# Calculate the amount of overtime pay.
overtime_pay = overtime_hours * pay_rate * OT_MULTIPLIER
# Calculate the gross pay.
gross_pay = BASE_HOURS * pay_rate + overtime_pay
else:
# Calculate the gross pay without overtime.
gross_pay = hours * pay_rate
# Display the gross pay.
print(f'The gross pay is ${gross_pay:,.2f}.')

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Comparing Strings (1 of 3)
 Strings can be compared using the ==
and != operators
 Example:
name1 = 'Mary‘
name2 = 'Mark‘
if name1 == name2:
print('The names are the same.')
else:
print('The names are NOT the
same.')

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Comparing Strings (2 of 2)

Figure 3-9 Comparing each character in a string

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Comparing Strings (3 of 3)

 String comparisons are case sensitive

 Strings can be compared using >, <,
>=, and <=
 Compared character by character
based on the ASCII values for each
character
 Ifshorter word is substring of longer
word, longer word is greater than
shorter word

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ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange)
character set

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Example

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Comparing Strings

 If one of the strings in a comparison is

shorter than the other, only the
corresponding characters will be
compared.
 If the corresponding characters are
identical, then the shorter string is
considered less than the longer string.
 For example, suppose the strings 'High‘ and
'Hi' were being compared. The string 'Hi'
would be considered less than 'High‘
because it is shorter.

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Example

 Take two names from the user and list

them alphabetically.

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# This program compares strings with the < operator.
#name1 = input('Enter a name (last name first): ')
#name2 = input('Enter another name (last name first): ')
# Display the names in alphabetical order.
print('Here are the names, listed alphabetically.')
if name1 < name2:
print(name1)
print(name2)
else:
print(name2)
print(name1)
Get two names from the user.

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Nested Decision Structures and the
if-elif-else Statement (1 of 3)

 A decision structure can be nested inside

another decision structure
 Commonly needed in programs
 Example:
 Determine if someone qualifies for a loan, they
must meet two conditions:
 Must earn at least $30,000/year
 Must have been employed for at least two
years
 Check first condition, and if it is true, check
second condition

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Nested Decision Structures and the
if-elif-else Statement (2 of 3)

Figure 3-12 A nested decision structure

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Nested Decision Structures and
the if-elif-else Statement (3 of 3)
 Important to use proper indentation in a
nested decision structure
 Important for Python interpreter
 Makes code more readable for
programmer
 Rules for writing nested if statements:
 else clause should align with matching
if clause
 Statements in each block must be
consistently indented

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The if-elif-else
Statement (1 of 3)
 if-elif-else statement: special
version of a decision structure
 Makes logic of nested decision structures
simpler to write
 Can include multiple elif statements
if condition_1:
 Syntax:
statement(s)
elif condition_2:
statement(s) Insert as many elif clauses
elif condition_3: as necessary.
statement(s)
else
statement(s)

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The if-elif-else
Statement (2 of 3)
 Alignment used with if-elif-else
statement:
 if, elif, and else clauses are all aligned
 Conditionally executed blocks are
consistently indented
 if-elif-else statement is never
required, but logic easier to follow
 Can be accomplished by nested if-else
 Code can become complex, and indentation
can cause problematic long lines

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The if-elif-else Statement (3 of 3)

Figure 3-15 Nested decision structure to determine a grade

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# This program gets a numeric test score from the
# user and displays the corresponding letter grade
# Named constants to represent the grade thresholds
A_SCORE = 90
B_SCORE = 80
C_SCORE = 70
D_SCORE = 60
# Get a test score from the user.
score = int(input('Enter your test score: '))
# Determine the grade.
if score >= A_SCORE:
print('Your grade is A.')
else:
if score >= B_SCORE:
print('Your grade is B.')
else:
if score >= C_SCORE:
print('Your grade is C.')
else:
if score >= D_SCORE:
print('Your grade is D.')
else:
print('Your grade is F.')

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Logical Operators
 Logical operators: operators that can
be used to create complex Boolean
expressions
 and operator and or operator: binary
operators, connect two Boolean
expressions into a compound Boolean
expression
 not operator: unary operator, reverses
the truth of its Boolean operand

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The and Operator
 Takes two Boolean expressions as operands
 Creates compound Boolean expression that is true
only when both sub expressions are true
 Can be used to simplify nested decision structures
 Truth table for the and operator

Expression Value of the

Expression
false and false false
false and true false
true and false false
true and true true

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The or Operator
 Takes two Boolean expressions as operands
 Creates compound Boolean expression that is true
when either of the sub expressions is true
 Can be used to simplify nested decision structures
 Truth table for the or operator

Expression Value of the

Expression
false or false false
false or true true
true or false true
true or true true

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Short-Circuit Evaluation
 Short circuit evaluation: deciding the
value of a compound Boolean expression
after evaluating only one sub expression
 Performed by the or and and operators
 For
or operator: If left operand is true,
compound expression is true. Otherwise,
evaluate right operand
 For
and operator: If left operand is false,
compound expression is false. Otherwise,
evaluate right operand

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The not Operator
 Takes one Boolean expressions as operand and
reverses its logical value
 Sometimes it may be necessary to place
parentheses around an expression to clarify to
what you are applying the not operator
 Truth table for the not operator

Expression Value of the Expression

true false
false true

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Checking Numeric Ranges
with Logical Operators
 To determine whether a numeric value
is within a specific range of values,
use and
 Example: x >= 10 and x <= 20
 To determine whether a numeric value
is outside of a specific range of values,
use or
 Example: x < 10 or x > 20

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Boolean Variables
 Boolean variable: references one of two
values, True or False
 Represented by bool data type
 Commonly used as flags
 Flag:
variable that signals when some
condition exists in a program
 Flag set to False  condition does not exist
 Flag set to True  condition exists

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Flag example

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Summary
 This chapter covered:
 Decision structures, including:
 Single alternative decision structures
 Dual alternative decision structures
 Nested decision structures
 Relational operators and logical operators as
used in creating Boolean expressions
 String
comparison as used in creating Boolean
expressions
 Boolean variables
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