When I write a function I sometimes use print and sometimes return and both seem to show the answer. But my teacher says they are not the same. Why does it matter?
print only displays a value on screen for a human to read, it does not give the value back to the program. return sends a value back to whoever called the function so it can be stored or reused. Example: a function with 'return a + b' lets you write 'total = add(2, 3)' and total becomes 5, which you can use later. If the function used 'print(a + b)' instead, it shows 5 but 'total = add(2, 3)' makes total equal to None, because nothing was returned. Rule of thumb: use return when the result will be used further in the program, and print only when you simply want to show something. Functions that calculate should almost always return.
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