Function will not return variable that I think is defined

[deanhystad]

If you don't understand scope many Python errors are completely mystifying. I set x = 10, why is it 5 here? What do you mean name "y" is not defined? I set it right here!! But when you know about scope the error messages not only tell you what you did wrong, but where. You'll still smack your head a few times, but you are probably past spending hours trying to fix a scope error.