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Python: Which practice avoids a common mistake with Prefix Sums?

Difficulty:

Medium

Questions:

1

Time Limit:

2 minutes

Passing Score:

100%

Question

Which practice avoids a common mistake with Prefix Sums?

  1. Ignore the Prefix Sums issue and rely on team discipline instead of clearer APIs or invariants.
  2. Do not lose track of the zero-boundary case when turning an inclusive range query into prefix subtraction.
  3. Silence the Prefix Sums problem by using broad catches, hidden globals, or extra shared mutable state.
  4. Prefer the version of Prefix Sums that makes behavior less predictable as long as the code still runs.

Hint

Look for the option that protects correctness instead of hiding the problem.

Answer and rationale

Correct answer: B. Do not lose track of the zero-boundary case when turning an inclusive range query into prefix subtraction.

Do not lose track of the zero-boundary case when turning an inclusive range query into prefix subtraction. This is a common failure mode in real Python code and a frequent interview follow-up.

Track: Python