Python While Loop!

** Tenali Raman and the Palace Guards**

Tenali Raman wishes to meet the King. Before reaching the royal court, he has to pass through many palace gates. A guard is posted at each gate.

Every guard demands a share of whatever reward Tenali Raman receives from the King. Tenali Raman agrees and promises:

"I will give you half of whatever reward I receive from the King."

All the guards allow him to enter. After meeting the King, Tenali Raman receives a reward of 1024 lashes.

The interesting question is: How many guards can receive half of the remaining reward until the value becomes less than 1?

##Step 1: Manual Calculation

First, we can calculate the result manually.

python

guard = 0
received_lashes = 1024

guard = 1
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

guard = 2
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

guard = 3
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

guard = 4
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

guard = 5
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

guard = 6
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

This approach helps us understand the calculation at a basic level.

However, writing the same code repeatedly is not efficient. Also, we do not know how many guards there are.


## Step 2: Identifying the Repeated Pattern

We can see that two operations are repeated:

1. Divide `received_lashes` by `2`.
2. Increase the guard count by `1`.

For example:

#python
guard = guard + 1
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2

Since the same operations are repeated, we can use a while loop.

---

Step 3: Using a While Loop

guard = 0
received_lashes = 1024

while received_lashes >= 1:
    received_lashes = received_lashes / 2
    guard = guard + 1

print(received_lashes)
print(guard)
![ ](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/x3tse2qigyuiqyeo9xpc.png)

Output
0.5
11

Explanation

The value is divided by 2 repeatedly:
1024 → 512 → 256 → 128 → 64 → 32 → 16 → 8 → 4 → 2 → 1 → 0.5
The loop runs 11 times.

Therefore:

• Number of guards = 11
• Remaining value = 0.5

Step 4: What Happens if We Start with guard = 1?

guard = 1
received_lashes = 1024

while received_lashes >= 1:
received_lashes = received_lashes / 2
guard = guard + 1

print(received_lashes)
print(guard)

Output
0.5
12

This happens because we started counting the guards from 1 instead of 0.
is the correct and clearer approach.

Correct Answer:

Guards counted: 11
Final remaining value: 0.5