Step 1: Research a Problem to Solve
Identify a problem that you could highlight using a calculator. Then research statistics that make you feel strongly about the cause. For example, with waste, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that each person in the United States discards 4.9 pounds of waste every day. We could bring attention to this by creating a calculator that can calculate how much waste is produced on a larger scale, such as in an entire city. Multiplying the number of residents of the city by 4.9 pounds would give us the number of pounds of trash discarded in one day in the city. (There’s more we could do with this scenario, but that’s an example to get you started!)

The sky is the limit with math and programming, so find something you’re passionate about, and see if there might be a related equation that your calculator could help solve to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem.

Step 2: Create a Calculator

Decide what equation your solution is going to use. Code a quick Python program that solves the equation.

Include these elements in your code:

AT LEAST two stages of calculation/transformation (For example, in Step 1, we multiplied the number of residents of a city by 4.9, which would be one calculation/transformation.)
AT LEAST two arithmetic operators (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or real division)
Make sure your final result is printed on-screen in a readable format.

Step 3: Describe Your Solution
Now, it’s time to explain your solution! For this we’ll be using code comments.

As you may remember from the previous unit, comments are separate from all of the actual code logic, and are used as a place to take notes or describe functions and features to other developers (and yourself) to better understand the code itself. Remember that a comment is prefaced with an # symbol. For example:

# This line is commented out.
#print("So is this one. This print function will not run."
print("This print function will run.")

Be sure to include the following types of details in your comments:
Add commented note on how the equation is solved in your script
Add comments to any math variables and expressions, along with what they represent in the context of the function
Comment descriptions that explain the code steps themselves, if applicable
Add commented note on how the equation helps explain or solve the problem you’re passionate about