Python Dictionary Type - list

Question

I'm trying to figure out why I get this type error. Is it possible to put integers inside of dictionaries?
math_questions = [
{'question1':'1*1',
'answer1':1,
'quote1' :'What you are,you are by accident of birth; what I am,I am by myself.\n There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.'},
{'question2':'2*1',
'answer2':2,
'quote2': 'Two is company, three is a crowd'},
{'question3': '3*1',
'answer3': 3,
'quote3': 'There are three types of people, those who can count and those who cannot'}
]
# read from a txt file later???
print math_questions[0]['question1']
math_answer = int(raw_input("What is the answer to " + math_questions["question1"] +"? : "))
if math_answer == math_questions['answer1']:
print math_questions['quote']
else:
print "Try again"
print math_questions['answer1']
This is the error message I get.
PS C:\python27\math_game> python math_game.py
1*1
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "math_game.py", line 17, in <module>
math_answer = int(raw_input("What is the answer to " + math_questions["question1"] +"? : "))
TypeError: list indices must be integers, not str
PS C:\python27\math_game>
Thanks for the help in advance.

Answer 1

When you access a list, you need the index. It looks like you are trying to access a dict. Instead, put:
math_answer = int(raw_input("What is the answer to " + math_questions[0]["question1"] +"? : "))
You had a few errors:
You had math_questions["question1"] on line 17, 19, 20, 23
You had math_questions["quote"] which didn't exist (I changed to math_questions["quote1"])
Over here, we try to access a list of dicts by the way you used. However, we need to strip it to just the dict before we access it that way.
>>> obj = [{'data1': 68,
... 'data2': 34,
... 'data3': 79}]
>>> obj['data2']
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: list indices must be integers, not str
>>> obj[0]['data2']
34
>>>
Here is your updated code:
math_questions = [
{'question1':'1*1',
'answer1':1,
'quote1' :'What you are,you are by accident of birth; what I am,I am by myself.\n There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.'},
{'question2':'2*1',
'answer2':2,
'quote2': 'Two is company, three is a crowd'},
{'question3': '3*1',
'answer3': 3,
'quote3': 'There are three types of people, those who can count and those who cannot'}
]
# read from a txt file later???
print math_questions[0]['question1']
math_answer = int(raw_input("What is the answer to " + math_questions[0]["question1"] +"? : "))
if math_answer == math_questions[0]['answer1']:
print math_questions[0]['quote1']
else:
print "Try again"
print math_questions[0]['answer1']

Answer 2

You should rework your data structure similar to this:
class MathQuestion:
def __init__(self, question, answer, quote):
self.question = question
self.answer = answer
self.quote = quote
math_questions = [
MathQuestion(question='1*1', answer='1', quote='What you are …'),
MathQuestion(question='2*1', answer='2', quote='Two is company …'),
#…
]
This allows you to address your strings like this:
math_questions[0].answer