Chapter 4: Decisions

a group of trees with paths on either side — **Figure 4.1** credit: modification of work "Fork In The Road", by Ian Sane/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

The Python interpreter follows a single path of execution when executing a program. What if a programmer wants to define multiple possible paths? Ex: Instead of always taking the left path, a program uses the path width to decide which path to take. If the left path is wider, take the right path. Else, take the left path.

A branch is a group of statements that execute based on a condition. The Expressions chapter introduced expressions. This chapter explores how expressions can be used as conditions to make decisions in programs.

Adapted from Introduction to Python Programming by OpenStax (openstax.org), licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Changes were made. License: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.