Add support for negative numbers in sum_of_digits function
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Assessment
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Newbie friendliness
- 74/100
Research direction
Open sum_of_digits.py or the relevant file and locate the sum_of_digits function and its current handling of integer input. Verify the listed cases, including negative values and zero, and update the documentation or examples if included; done means negative inputs return the digit sum of their absolute value without breaking existing cases.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
🐛 Current Behavior
The sum_of_digits() function currently only works with non-negative integers. When a negative number is passed, it enters an infinite loop or produces incorrect results.
python:
Current implementation fails with negative numbers
sum_of_digits(-123) # Does not work correctly
✅ Expected Behavior
The function should handle negative numbers by computing the sum of digits using the absolute value.
python
sum_of_digits(-123) # Should return 6 (1 + 2 + 3)
sum_of_digits(-456) # Should return 15 (4 + 5 + 6)
💡 Proposed Solution
Add abs() to handle negative numbers in the sum_of_digits function:
def sum_of_digits(n: int) -> int:
"""
Compute the sum of the digits of an integer.
Args:
n: An integer (negative values are converted to absolute).
Returns:
Sum of digits of the absolute value of the number.
Examples:
>>> sum_of_digits(123)
6
>>> sum_of_digits(-789)
24
"""
n = abs(n) # Handle negative numbers
total = 0
while n > 0:
total += n % 10
n //= 10
return total
📋 Additional Improvements (Optional)
Update docstring to clarify behavior with negative numbers
Add doctests for negative numbers
Update main() to display absolute value when input is negative:
python
abs_display = f" (absolute value: {abs(number)})" if number < 0 else ""
print(f"The sum of the digits of {number}{abs_display} is: {result}")
🧪 Test Cases
sum_of_digits(123) → 6
sum_of_digits(-123) → 6
sum_of_digits(0) → 0
sum_of_digits(-999) → 27
sum_of_digits.py (or the relevant file name)
🏷️ Labels
enhancement, good first issue, bug
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 35.4k
- Forks
- 12.9k
- Avg merge
- 2h 37m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 1
Contributor guide
First steps
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