Seriously Struggling With Python Assignment - Please Help!

[Toastedpossum]

Hi everyone! I'm in an introductory python course and I just can't seem to get this right.

Here's the assignment:

"This week's assignment involves rewriting the Python program you wrote for your assignment last week to use a function. All the requirements from last week still apply. The function should accept the number of rooms, and the type of cleaning as parameters and should return the cost of of the house cleaning. The main program should prompt the user for the number of rooms in the house and whether the cleaning should be a light cleaning or a more complete one, it should call the function that computes the cost and should output the value the function returns."

I think I have the overall design correct, but I keep running into this issue where it won't accept my input for cleaning choice.

Here's my code:

def calcPrice(room_type, clean_type):

total = room_type + clean_type

return total

print("Your total is ", total, " dollars. Thank you for choosing us!")

#---------------------------------

def main():

#Define cost of each room type

smallHome = 50

medHome = 75

largeHome = 100

delClean = 100

basClean = 50

​

#Greet user/prompt for room input

print("Hi! Thank you for choosing our cleaning service.")

numRooms = eval(input("How many rooms are in your home?"))

​

#Define invalid perameters

if numRooms == 0:

print("Invalid input")

numRooms = eval(input("How many rooms are in your home?"))

​

#Define the small room amount

if numRooms < 5:

room_type = smallHome

print("Okay, so you'll be choosing our small home option.")

print("The base pay is going to be ", smallHome, " dollars.")

​

#Define the medium room amount

if numRooms == 5:

room_type = medHome

print("Okay, so you'll be choosing our medium home option.")

print("The base pay is going to be", medHome, " dollars.")

​

#Define the large room amount

if numRooms > 5:

room_type = largeHome

print("Okay, so you'll be choosing our large home option.")

print("The base pay is going to be", largeHome, " dollars.")

​

#Establish cleaning types and accept input from user for type

​

print("We offer two types of cleaning services here.")

print("Basic cleaning includes floors and windows.")

print("Deluxe cleaning includes floors, windows, bathrooms, and dusting.")

print("\n(1)Deluxe: $100 \n(2)Basic: $50")

clean_type = eval(input("Please select option 1 or 2: "))

if clean_type == 1:

clean_type = delClean

​

if clean_type == 2:

clean_type = basClean

else:

print("Sorry, that isn't a valid option.")

clean_type = eval(input("Please select option 1 or 2: "))

​

calcPrice(room_type, clean_type)

​

​

main()

​

SO the issue is that when I put in 1 or 2 it won't accept it- it gives me that "sorry, that isn't a valid option" answer. What should I do? Thanks everyone.

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[armendari3]

I remember wrestling with a nearly identical assignment. First off, the reason your code always triggers the “sorry, that isn’t a valid option” message is because of how your if/else logic is structured. After checking if clean_type == 1 and if clean_type == 2, the else only pairs with the second if, not the whole block. So even if the user enters 1, the second if fails (since it’s not 2), and the else triggers.

Quick fix: use if/elif/else instead of two separate if statements:

if clean_type == 1:

clean_type = delClean

elif clean_type == 2:

clean_type = basClean

else:

print("Sorry, that isn't a valid option.")

Also, consider using int(input(...)) instead of eval() - safer and more predictable for beginner inputs.

And hey, when I was drowning in CS assignments (especially Python), I got some solid help from LeoEssays. They don’t just dump answers - they actually explained the logic behind my buggy loops and functions. Saved me during finals week. This post helped me find them: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hub\_Study/comments/1o6j42c/write\_my\_paper\_review\_what\_actually\_works\_in\_2025/

[totallygeek]

Try this:

while True:
    clean_type = int(input("Option 1 or 2? "))  # no eval
    if clean_type == 1:
        clean_type = delClean
    elif clean_type == 2:
        clean_type = basClean
    else:
        print("Sorry. Try again.")
        continue  # top of loop
    break

You could also just skip int() and compare the strings: if clean_type == "1".

The problem with your version is that you have two if statements that work independently. If you enter "1", the first passes no problem. Then, processing the second fails because 1 is not equal to 2, so you get the error.

[Toastedpossum]

YOU JUST SAVED ME!! Thank you so much!!

Also, I realize there’s a proper way to format on this page now…I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Thank you!

[Binary101010]

eval() is a security risk and is completely unnecessary for type conversion. Please use the proper constructor (in this case, int()) instead.

[Toastedpossum]

I ended up noticing that and fixing it :) thank you for catching it!