Answer: Python Puzzler #473

The answer is B. The program prints:

carrot
What the program prints
Checked by running the program for real.

Why?

A negative position counts from the end: -1 is the last item, -2 the one before it. So -4 means item number 4 from the end.

Trace table

A trace table follows the program step by step. Here’s this one:

positionnegative positionitem
0-6plum
1-5mango
2-4carrot
3-3pear
4-2apple
5-1melon

The code again

basket = ["plum", "mango", "carrot", "pear", "apple", "melon"]
print(basket[-4])

Try it: change one number in the program and predict the new output before you run it.