Simple question about .format(* )

[Motley_Cow]

I am working with the following code and I am trying to understand what the purpose of the asterisk within the ".format(*formula)" operation on the last line of the script is. When I remove the asterisk, running the script gives the following error: "IndexError: tuple index out of range"

Can someone help me understand what the asterisk is? And what it is doing to allow the results of the function to print within the formatted string on the last line? Thanks for reading

def secret_formula(started):
    jelly_beans = started * 500
    jars = jelly_beans / 1000
    crates = jars / 100
    return jelly_beans, jars, crates


start_point = 10000
beans, jars, crates = secret_formula(start_point)

#remember that this is another way to format a string
print("With a starting point of: {}".format(start_point))
#it's just like with an f"" string
print(f"We'd have {beans} beans, {jars} jars, and {crates} crates." )

start_point = start_point / 10

print("We can also do that this way:")
formula = secret_formula(start_point)
#this is an easier way to apply a list to a format string
print("We'd have {} beans, {} jars, and {} crates.".format(*formula))

[buran]

formula is three element tuple. asterisk "unpack" the tuple into separate elements, thus providing the necessary number of arguments to .format()

Note you can use two asterisk ** to "unpack" mapping like dictionary

person = {'name':'John', 'age':17}
print('{name} is {age} years old'.format(**person))