How is the value cost_per_person being stored in amount_due?

Hi Andrew!

The function split_check takes two arguments:

def split_check(total, number_of_people)

Those arguments (total, number_of_people) are used in the variable cost_per_person.

def split_check(total, number_of_people):
    cost_per_person = total / number_of_people
    return cost_per_person

Then the function returns the operation performed by cost_per_person.

Check out the example below:

def split_check(total, number_of_people):
    cost_per_person = total / number_of_people
    return cost_per_person

split_check(84.97, 4)

Here, I'm calling the split_check function. It will return 21.25, but that information isn't being stored anywhere.

If I store it in a variable, I can refer to that information later. Like this:

def split_check(total, number_of_people):
    cost_per_person = total / number_of_people
    return cost_per_person

amount_due = split_check(84.97, 4)

You asked: wouldn't we need a line similar to amount_due = cost per person?

Craig said "our function returned the value cost_per_person, which we stored in amount due." Here's another way to think about this:

"The split_check function calculates cost_per_person, and it returns that information. The amount_due variable stores whatever is returned by split_check.

It doesn't store the cost_per_person variable itself, because that variable is used inside the split_check function."

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions!