Description
Introduction
Learning outcomes
Skills
Be able to construct and reason about Python solutions to programming problems involving
selection and/or iteration.
Including,
o Constructing and reasoning about compound Boolean expressions involving the use
of python comparison operators.
o Constructing and reasoning about data selection expressions that use of string
slicing and casting.
Knowledge
The forms of Python if, if-else and if-elif statements.
Python comparison operators, the Boolean operators ‘and’, ‘not’ and ‘or’, and operator
precedence.
The form of the Python for loop, and the use of break and continue statements.
The role of the range function in for loops.
The distinction between definite and indefinite loop structures.
Forms and possible uses of string slice and casting operations.
Exercise One [25 marks]
This exercise concerns decoding South African identity (ID) numbers.
A South African ID number is a 13-digit number with the following format (courtesy Western Cape
Government):
YYMMDDSSSSCAZ
The first six digits are the person’s date of birth, with 2 digits for year, then 2 digits for
month, then 2 digits for day e.g. 6th June 2017 is represented as 170606.
The next four digits identify the person’s gender. Females are assigned numbers in the range
0000-4999. Males are assigned numbers in the range 5000-9999.
The next digit indicates whether the person is South African citizen, or a permanent
resident. A 0 denotes a South African citizen. A 1 denotes a permanent resident.
The last digit is a checksum digit that is used to check that the number sequence is accurate.
The second to last digit is not used.
Part A [10 marks]
Write a program called simpleparser.py that asks the user to input their ID number, and then
decodes and prints out their date of birth, gender, and citizenship status.
Sample I/O:
Please enter your ID number:
9202204720082
CONTINUED
Your date of birth is 20/02/92.
You are female.
You are a South African citizen.
Sample I/O:
Please enter your ID number:
1703295010174
Your date of birth is 29/03/17.
You are male.
You are a permanent resident.
The Luhn algorithm
The check digit at the end of an ID number is used to detect accidental mistakes, such a through
misreading or mistyping. Given an ID, the validity (correctness) can be determined by recalculating
the check digit and comparing it to that which is given.
A check digit is calculated by applying the Luhn algorithm to the first 12 digits:
𝑑11𝑑10𝑑9𝑑8𝑑7𝑑6𝑑5𝑑4𝑑3𝑑2𝑑1𝑑0𝑑𝑐
Essentially, the algorithm requires calculating the sum of the digits i.e.
𝑠𝑢𝑚 = 𝑑11+𝑑10+𝑑9+𝑑8+𝑑7+𝑑6+𝑑5+𝑑4+𝑑3+𝑑2+𝑑1+𝑑0
However, alternate digits are not added directly. For each of these, multiply by 2, obtain the
modulus of 9, and add this to the total. (i.e for each 𝑑 in 𝑑10,𝑑8,𝑑6𝑑4𝑑2𝑑0, obtain (𝑑 ×
2) 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 9).
The full summation is:
𝑠𝑢𝑚 = 𝑑11+(𝑑10 × 2) 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 9 + 𝑑9+ ⋯ + 𝑑1 + (𝑑0 × 2) 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 9)
Calculate the expected check digit by obtaining 𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 10.
An ID number is valid if:
10 – (𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 10) = 𝑑𝑐
Part B [15 marks]
Write a program called advancedparser.py that asks the user to input their ID number, and then
does two things:
(i) using the check digit, it determines whether the number is valid;
(ii) (ii) if the number is valid then it decodes and prints out the user’s date of birth, gender,
citizenship status.
Sample I/O:
Please enter your ID number:
9202204720082
Invalid ID number.
CONTINUED
Sample I/O:
Please enter your ID number:
1703295010174
Your date of birth is 29/03/17.
You are male.
You are a permanent resident.
Exercise Two [25 marks]
In South Africa, the department of transport issues different driving licenses depending on the
category (or categories) of vehicle that the recipient wishes to drive (or learn to drive).
How is a vehicle classified? It depends on the Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM), and on whether the vehicle
is ‘articulated’, or whether a trailer is being towed.
The GVM dictates the base class to which the vehicle belongs: B, C1, or C.
GVM≤3500 Class B
3500
