Answer: Python Puzzler #716

The answer is B. The program prints:

banana
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 -3 means item number 3 from the end.

Trace table

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

positionnegative positionitem
0-5grape
1-4mango
2-3banana
3-2apple
4-1plum

The code again

basket = ["grape", "mango", "banana", "apple", "plum"]
print(basket[-3])

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