A Palindrome is a sequence that reads the same backward as forward. In the context of number theory, a palindromic number or numeral palindrome is a number that remains the same when its digits are reversed.
This article aims to guide you through the process of developing a Python program that can determine whether or not a number is a palindrome. Let’s dive into the step-by-step guide.
Step-by-step Guide to Create a Palindrome Checker
Step 1: Take Input from the User
The first step in our Python program is to take the number as input from the user. Python has a built-in function input() which takes input from the user. Since input() function takes input as a string, we use int() to convert the string into an integer.
Here’s how we can do this:
1 | num = int(input("Enter a number: ")) |
Step 2: Reverse the Number
In the second step, we need to reverse the input number. We will use a while loop to perform this operation.
1 2 3 4 5 6 | temp = num rev = 0 while temp != 0: rev = (rev * 10) + (temp % 10) temp = temp // 10 |
Here’s what the code does:
- We store the original number in a temporary variable because we will need to compare it with the reversed number.
- We initialize another variable rev to 0. This will store the reversed number.
- Inside the while loop, we are using the modulus operator (%) to get the last digit of the number and multiply the current rev by 10 and add the last digit. This constructs the reversed number.
- We then use the floor division operator (//) to remove the last digit from the original number.
- The loop continues until the number becomes 0.
Step 3: Check if the Number is a Palindrome
The final step is to check whether the input number is a palindrome. This can be done by comparing the original number with the reversed number. If both are the same, the number is a palindrome.
1 2 3 4 | if num == rev: print(f"{num} is a palindrome") else: print(f"{num} is not a palindrome") |
The if statement checks the condition – if it’s true, the number is a palindrome; else, it’s not.
Complete Python Program
Now, let’s put all these together into a complete Python program:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | # Take input from the user num = int(input("Enter a number: ")) # Store the number in a temporary variable and reverse it temp = num rev = 0 while temp != 0: rev = (rev * 10) + (temp % 10) temp = temp // 10 # Check if the number is a palindrome if num == rev: print(f"{num} is a palindrome") else: print(f"{num} is not a palindrome") |
To use the program, run it, and when prompted, enter a number. The program will then tell you whether or not your number is a palindrome.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned how to create a Python program to check if a number is a palindrome. This simple yet effective program showcases the power of Python’s simplicity and how it can be used to solve problems efficiently. We utilized Python’s built-in functions and implemented logic using conditional and loop statements. This exercise is a great way to sharpen your Python programming skills and understand fundamental concepts.