Searching for two integers root**pwr = integer(user's input)

Question

Write a program that asks the user to enter an integer and prints two integers, root and pwr, such that 0 < pwr < 6 and root**pwr is equal to the integer entered by the user. If no such pair of integers exists, it should print a message to that effect.

This is a question from MIT 6.0001 OpenCourseWare. I'm an absolute beginner (kind of started coding for 3 days) and this program costs me like 3 hours to complete. I made many modifications as running the code - finding mistakes - reviewing - then, modifying.

My concern is: is my way of coding is normal. I am not sure if my computational thinking reflected by this 3-hour period is on the right track to learning coding. Please feel free to judge the style, design and effectiveness of my codes. If you can give me some advice on learning, that would be a great help.

I think there are too many if statements here.

x = int(input("Type in the number: "))
print("The root is " + str(x) + ", the power is 1 ") # A pair of numbers 
 #for any number
for pwr in range(1,5): #Examine by each power
 root = 0
 pwr += 1
 while root**pwr < abs(x):
 root += 1
 if root**pwr == abs(x):
 if x < 0 and pwr % 2 == 1:# test for negative number with odd power
 root = -root
 print("The root is " + str(root) + ", the power is " + str(pwr))
 elif x < 0 and pwr % 2 == 0:# test for negative number with even power
 print("no match for " + "power ", str(pwr) )
 else:# for positive number
 print("The root is " + str(root) + ", the power is " + str(pwr))
 
 else:
 print("no match for " + "power ", str(pwr))

• Sᴀᴍ Onᴇᴌᴀ: The indentation has been fixed and it works per the problem statement. I have edited the title to describe what the code does (per the site standard) and it is now reopened.
• Reinderien: More specifically, this appears to be Guttag Finger Exercise 3.1.

Answer 1

First, the question itself makes no sense and has a trivial answer:

x = int(input("Type in the number: "))
print(f'{x}**1 == {x}')

In other words, for a root equal to x and a power of one, the condition will always be met, so there is no calculation or looping required. Either the question is open to you realising this and providing the trivial answer, or the question was written lazily and is not a good exercise.

You seem to have already captured this in your "The root is " + str(x) + ", the power is 1 "; but then - why do anything else?

Let's be generous and assume that the question is actually looking for the highest integral power corresponding to an integral root. A loop of the form you've written is still too complex, and can be as simple as

x = int(input("Type in the number: "))
for pwr in range(5, 0, -1):
 root_exact = x ** (1/pwr)
 root_int = round(root_exact)
 if root_int**pwr == x:
 print(f'{root_int}**{pwr} == {x}')
 break

You should not care about odd or negative numbers.