Retrieval · search
Find the right page
🎓 School maths · Years 9–10Number — ranking & comparison — Score how well each page matches a query, then rank by that score.Maths by year →
The Case. A chatbot doesn't know everything by heart — it can keep a stack of notes and look one up. Given a question, which note answers it?
Your tools. Plain Python compares the words in your question to the words in each note, and counts how many match.
Investigate. Press Run. The note that shares the most words with your question wins.
- This ‘shared words’ trick is a simple version of what real search engines do.
- Change the
question— different words, different winning note.
your_code.py
Starting Python…
The Reveal
Starting Python… (first time only — a few seconds)
🗒️ Detective's notes
Bundles your findings, chart and code into one PDF you can keep, print or hand in.
🧩 How this code works
The tools it uses
- Matplotlib — your crayon box — it turns numbers into charts and pictures.
How to read it, top to bottom
- 1. Import — bring in the tools (listed above).
- 2. The data — the lists and numbers near the top. These are the bits you change.
- 3. The work — a little maths, or a loop that repeats a step.
- 4. Show it —
print(...)writes words;plt.show()draws the picture.
Use it for your own problems
- Change the numbers at the top and press Run — nothing breaks, so experiment!
- Ask your own version of the question — swap in your family, your scores, your week.
- The same tools work on any numbers — that's the superpower you're learning.
Need a hint?
q_words & note_words keeps only the words that appear in BOTH sets — that's the overlap.