zlacker

>>equili+(OP)
Wouldn't len(str(num)) be adequate here? This is a quite literal translation of what the code should be doing: measuring the length of the text representation of a number. The mathematical approach seems a little convoluted, although it serves the purpose of teaching a lesson.

>>nicbou+I93
At the bottom of the article they mention that this was discouraged because they hadn't covered strings in the course yet

>>bittum+1a3
And more importantly, because it sidesteps the interesting pedagogy around edge cases and testing that the instructor is interested in.

>>MrJohz+ma3
The correct solution here is to give credit for the problem to acknowledge genuine clever problem solving, and then offer extra credit for doing it the pedagogical way.