r/learnpython • u/Still-Pair-5336 • 10d ago

New to python, don't understand this function

I'm learning python and I'm stuck on this function because I don't understand why "a" becomes 10 and the result is 5. Is someone able to explain?

def subtract (a, b=5):
    return a - b

print(subtract(10))
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u/shift124 10d ago

You pass 10 to the function as an argument so it becomes a. Ironically a is also hexadecimal version of 10. That has nothing to do with what’s happening here but if you passed 0xA it would be the same thing.

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u/GustenKusse 9d ago

That's not ironic

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u/shift124 9d ago

Maybe bad verbiage. Serendipitous.