Python tuples: practice questions with answers.

What this topic tests

• Pack and unpack values, including the one-item tuple comma.
• Predict what happens when code tries to change a tuple.
• Use tuples where a fixed shape or a hashable key is useful.

Common mistakes

• Writing (1) when you need a one-item tuple. The comma in (1,) is required.
• Trying to assign to tuple[index]. Tuples do not support item assignment.
• Assuming a tuple is always faster or always better; choose based on whether the data should change.

Ten representative questions from the full bank. Try each one before opening the answer.

1. Multiple choiceq0516

   1. Ming stores a milk tea recipe ratio in a tuple. What is the biggest difference between a tuple and a list?

   1. tuples are ordered; lists are unordered
   2. tuples are immutable; lists are mutable
   3. tuples can only hold numbers
   4. lists are faster
   Show answer

   Answer

   B. tuples are immutable; lists are mutable

   Why: A tuple is ordered and immutable; a list is ordered and mutable. Ordering is shared, so immutability is the real difference.

2. Multiple choiceq0527

   2. 🧋 What does it mean that a tuple cannot be changed?

   1. the variable cannot be reassigned
   2. the tuple's elements cannot be modified
   3. the tuple cannot be referenced
   4. a tuple can only hold numbers
   Show answer

   Answer

   B. the tuple's elements cannot be modified

   Why: Immutability means the contents cannot be modified in place; the name can still be rebound. The tuple's identity and length are fixed.

3. Multiple choiceq0530

   3. 🧋 What is the type of (42,)?

   1. tuple
   2. int
   3. str
   4. list
   Show answer

   Answer

   A. tuple

   Why: The comma after 42 makes this a one-element tuple, so type() reports tuple; this is the smallest legal tuple. Its length is 1.

4. Multiple choiceq0541

   4. Which method counts how often a value appears in a tuple?

   1. count
   2. index
   3. find
   4. len
   Show answer

   Answer

   A. count

   Why: count(value) is available on tuples and returns the number of equal elements. index gives a position, find belongs to strings, and len counts everything.

5. Fill in the blankq0518

   5. Ming splits the tuple (name, price) = ("milk tea", 15) into two variables. Which tuple mechanism is this?

   Show answer

   Answer

   unpacking

   Why: The right side packs two values and the left side unpacks them position by position. This is tuple unpacking, not slicing or copying.

6. Fill in the blankq0534

   6. 🧋 Swap variables with tuple unpacking: a, b = ___

   Show answer

   Answer

   b, a

   Why: The right side is evaluated first, building the tuple (b, a), then it is unpacked back into a and b. That swaps the values without a temporary.

7. Fill in the blankq0546

   7. Which standard-library factory creates a lightweight tuple with named fields?

   from collections import ____
   Point = namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'])

   Show answer

   Answer

   namedtuple

   Why: namedtuple builds a tuple subclass whose fields can also be read by name, so point.x works alongside point[0]. It is still a tuple, hence immutable.

8. Output predictionq0517

   8. What is printed after unpacking and tuple addition?

   t = (1, 2, 3)
   a, b, c = t
   print(b, t + (4,))

   Show answer

   Answer

   2 (1, 2, 3, 4)

   Why: Unpacking binds 1, 2, 3 to a, b, c in order, so b is 2; adding (4,) returns a new tuple (1, 2, 3, 4) without touching t. Nothing is mutated anywhere.

9. Output predictionq0525

   9. Read the code and write the output.

   for i, ch in enumerate("ab"):
       print(i, ch)

   Show answer

   Answer

   0 a
   1 b

   Why: enumerate yields (index, character) pairs, and print separates them with a space, so the output is 0 a then 1 b. The index starts at 0.

10. Output predictionq0538

    10. Read the inner tuple's first element. What is printed?

    t = (1, (2, 3))
    print(t[1][0])

    Show answer

    Answer

    2

    Why: t[1] returns the inner tuple (2, 3), and [0] then takes its first element, so 2 is printed. Chained indexing walks one level at a time.

Common questions