Trouble with Syntax for recursive function that runs until a loan balance reaches 0

Question

SA=1000.00 AI=0.12 MP=100.00 def remainb(x): if x==0: return 0 else: return x=(SA+(AI/12)*SA)-MP for i in range(x,1000000): x=(x+(AI/12)*x)-MP CIwoP=(x+(AI/12)*x)-x #interest every month ptd=MP*i#payment to date #ptdreal=(ptd-CIwoP) #rbal=(CIwP-ptd) print(i)#payment no. print(ptd)#amount paid to date print(CIwoP)#interest for that month print(x)#balance for each month after payment #if rbal==0: return 0 #return Made multiples attempts at debugging but failed repeatedly for hours. Frankly, I am stuck. If anyone can give me any advice on how to approach this problem (eg. run the loop until SA==0). Select the correct answer from above options

Answer 1

You are trying to Switching to while loop is more appropriate as you are not sure how many times you need to loop. This will continue as long as x greater than 0. x = (SA + (AI / 12) * SA) - MP payment_number = 0 while x > 0: x = (x + (AI / 12) * x) - MP CIwoP = (x + (AI / 12) * x) - x # interest every month ptd = MP * payment_number # payment to date payment_number += 1 print(payment_number) # payment no. print(ptd) # amount paid to date print(CIwoP) # interest for that month print(x) # balance for each month after payment Recursion approach def remainb(x, payment_number=0): if x < 0: return x = (x + (AI / 12) * x) - MP CIwoP = (x + (AI / 12) * x) - x # interest every month ptd = MP * payment_number # payment to date payment_number += 1 print(payment_number) # payment no. print(ptd) # amount paid to date print(CIwoP) # interest for that month print(x) # balance for each month after payment remainb(x, payment_number) If you are a beginner and want to know more about Python the do check out the data science with python course