strange math?

[Ron Adam]

joe.hrbek at gmail.com wrote:

>>>> f(01)
> 43
>>>> f(02)
> 44
>>>> f(010)
> 50
>>>> 42+010
> 50
> 
> The first f(01) was a mistake.  I accidentally forgot to delete the
> zero, but to my suprise, it yielded the result I expected.  So, I tried
> it again, and viola, the right answer.  So, I decided to really try and
> throw it for a loop, f(010), and it produced 50.  I expected 52
> (42+10).  Why doesn't python ignore the first zero and produce a result
> of 52?  It ignored the first zero for f(01) and f(02).  Hmm.  I know, I
> know, why am I sending it a 01,02, or a 010 to begin with?  Like I
> said, it was an accident, but now i'm curious.  I'm not a computer
> science major so please be kind with any explanations.

Number beginning with the digit '0' are octal (base 8), so 010 == 8. 
42 + 8 = 50.

Numbers beginning with '0x' are base 16.

Cheers,
    Ron