Use a Tuple & Loop through Scores

Darts
Darts in Python 
def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    throw = x_coord**2 + y_coord**2
    rules = (1, 10), (25, 5), (100, 1), (200, 0)
    
    for distance, points in rules:
        if throw <= distance:
            return points

This approach uses a loop to iterate through the rules tuple, unpacking each (distance, points) pair (For a little more on unpacking, see Tuple Unpacking Improves Python Code Readability). If the calculated distance of the throw is less than or equal to a given distance, the score for that region is returned. A list of lists, a list of tuples, or a dictionary could be used here to the same effect:

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    throw = x_coord**2 + y_coord**2
    rules = [[1, 10], [25, 5], [100, 1]]
    
    for distance, points in rules:
        if throw <= distance:
            return points
    
    return 0
            
#OR#

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    throw = x_coord**2 + y_coord**2
    rules = [(1, 10), (25, 5), (100, 1), (200, 0)]
    
    for distance, points in rules:
        if throw <= distance:
            return points

#OR#

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    throw = x_coord**2 + y_coord**2
    rules = {1: 10, 25: 5, 100: 1}
    
    for distance, points in rules.items():
        if throw <= distance:
            return points
    
    return 0

This approach would work nicely in a scenario where you expect to be adding more scoring "rings", since it is cleaner to edit the data structure than to add additional if-statements as you would have to in the if-statement approach. For the three rings as defined by the current exercise, it is a bit over-engineered to use a data structure + loop, and results in a slight (very slight) slowdown over using if-statements.

9th Apr 2025 · Found it useful?

Other Approaches to Darts in Python

Other ways our community solved this exercise
import math

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    distance = math.sqrt(x_coord**2 + y_coord**2)
    if distance <= 1: return 10
    if distance <= 5: return  5
    if distance <= 10: return  1
    return 0
Use If Statements

Use if-statements to check scoring boundaries for a dart throw. 

from math import hypot, ceil

def score(x, y):
    match ceil(hypot(x, y)):
        case 0 | 1: return 10
        case 2 | 3 | 4 | 5: return 5
        case 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10: return 1
        case _: return 0
Use Structural Pattern Matching ('Match-Case')

Use a Match-Case (Structural Pattern Matching) to score the dart throw.) 

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    length = x_coord**2 + y_coord**2
    rules = {1.0: 10, 25.0: 5, 100.0: 1, 200: 0}
    score = max(point for
                distance, point in
                rules.items() if length <= distance)

    return score
Use a Dictionary with a Generator Expression

Use a generator expression looping over a scoring dictionary, getting the max score for the dart throw. 

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    radius = (x_coord**2 + y_coord**2)
    return (radius<=1)*5 + (radius<=25)*4 +(radius<=100)*1
Use Boolean Values as Integers

Use True and False as integer values to calculate the score of the dart throw. 

def score(x_coord, y_coord):
    point = (x_coord**2 + y_coord**2)
    scores = {point <= 100: 1, point <= 25: 5, point <= 1: 10}

    return scores.get(True, 0)
Use a Dictionary with dict.get

Loop over a dictionary and retrieve score via dct.get.