Power with default argument (9)

What this problem practises

Function bugs are mostly about names and values: positional argument order, default parameters evaluated once at definition time, local versus global scope, and the implicit None returned whenever a function has no return.

This is an output-prediction problem: read the snippet carefully and write down exactly what it prints before anything runs. These questions are interview staples because they test whether you know the language rules, or merely recognise their syntax.

Difficulty: medium — expect to hold two interacting rules in your head at once, such as a boundary combined with a mutation.

The challenge

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Keep going

• Output-prediction strategies — how to predict tricky snippets without running them.
• Browse every functions problem in this topic.
• Common Python errors and what they actually mean, plus the Python glossary for any term used on this page.