Problem with Python Loop

[racshot65]

Hello,

This is driving me crazy so here it goes.

I'm trying to create a program that finds the 1000th prime number. This is the code I started with to check if a number is prime:

numberofprimesfound = 0
numbertotest = 303
divisor = 2


if numbertotest%divisor == 0:
  print numbertotest, 'Is not a prime (broke at stage 1)'
  
else:
   while divisor < numbertotest:
    divisor = divisor +1
    if numbertotest%divisor == 0:
     print numbertotest, 'Is not a prime (broke at stage 2)'
     numbertotest = numbertotest +2
     break
    elif numbertotest%divisor <> 0:
           print numbertotest, 'Is a prime'
           numbertotest = numbertotest +2
           numberofprimesfound = numberofprimesfound +1
           break

This works correctly to check if any number is a prime above 3.

However when I add a while loop to find the 1000th prime it all goes wrong.

numberofprimesfound = 0
numbertotest = 5
divisor = 2

while numberofprimesfound < 1000:

 if numbertotest%divisor == 0:
  numbertotest = numbertotest +2
  divisor = 2
 
 else:
    
   while divisor < numbertotest:
    divisor = divisor +1
    
    if numbertotest%divisor == 0:
     numbertotest = numbertotest +2
     divisor = 2
     break
    
    elif numbertotest%divisor <> 0:
           numbertotest = numbertotest +2
           numberofprimesfound = numberofprimesfound +1
           divisor = 2
           break

print 'The', numberofprimesfound,'th prime is', numbertotest

The loop reports the 1000th prime to be 3003 which obviously isnt right. But I cant figure out why when the prime check works fine it all breaks when I simply add a while loop.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[sneekula]

At first, I would adopt consistent indentations! Very important in Python. Most people use 4 spaces.

[racshot65]

Done :)

numberofprimesfound = 0
numbertotest = 5
divisor = 2

while numberofprimesfound < 1000:

    if numbertotest%divisor == 0:
        numbertotest = numbertotest +2
        divisor = 2

    else:
    
        while divisor < numbertotest:
            divisor = divisor +1
    
            if numbertotest%divisor == 0:
                numbertotest = numbertotest +2
                divisor = 2
                break

            elif numbertotest%divisor <> 0:
                numbertotest = numbertotest +2
                numberofprimesfound = numberofprimesfound +1
                divisor = 2
                break

print 'The', numberofprimesfound,'th prime is', numbertotest

[woooee]

Note that you add 2 to numbertotest before you break, so the prime would have been 3001 (don't know if that really is a prime).

## assume numberofprimesfound = 999
while numberofprimesfound < 1000:
   .
   .
   .
   elif numbertotest%divisor <> 0:
           numbertotest = numbertotest +2
           numberofprimesfound = numberofprimesfound +1
           divisor = 2
           break

[jlm699]

Your method of finding primes is flawed. Try 25, 35 and 49. None of those numbers are prime and it says that they are. Fix your indentation and your algorithm and then try to loop it again. I suggest using a function.