Discover challenging Python brain teasers that test your skills and stretch your thinking. Gain insights into advanced concepts and enhance your understanding of this versatile language.

Forget Scrabble, Boggle, or Wordle. Tease your mind and test your skills with these fun brain teasers designed to stretch your thinking and expand your understanding of one of the most widely used languages out there. 

Python is simple. These puzzles are not. Good luck!

Python Brain Teasers

# Try it yourself
Try executing the code below to verify the result:

a, b = 12, 3 
x=a*b 
y=b*a 
print(x is y)

# Explanation
A Python variable is a name that points to a Python object. When we have two variables (such as x and y), we can ask two questions:

- **Equality:** Are the objects these variables point to equal (represented by the the == operator)?
- **Identity:** Do these two variables point to the same object (represented by the is operator)?

Since we did two separate calculations for `x` and `y` in the above example, we’d expect them to be equal but not identical. Generally, that would be correct. Notice that if we change the value of `b` to `333` and re-run it, we’ll see `False` as the output. The reason we’re seeing `True` is due to an implementation detail. Since small numbers are used a lot, Python is interning (storing only one copy) of them.

Here’s what the documentation says about interning:


> The current implementation keeps an array of integer objects for all integers between `-5` and `256`; when you create an `int` in that range you actually just get back a *_reference to the existing object_*.

What this means is that there's only one copy of the number 1 in a Python program. Every calculation that results in `1` returns the same object.

We'll go over the concept of equality and identity in Python.

Before We Begin

Python Puzzles

Wrapping Up

Puzzle 13: Explanation

Try it yourself