Values are not returned just to do calculations, that's just one example of what you can do. The return statement is essentially just a reverse example of passing an argument into a function. The function is giving a value back to the code that called it and once returned the value can be used for anything that value normally could be. Let's say you had a function that was designed to present the user with a list of options and then asked the user to choose one of them. That function would not be very useful if i did not tell the code that called it what the user actually ended up choosing, which it can easily do by returning the choice. Also consider built-in methods in Python like upper (uppercase a string) and lower (lowercase a string) those are methods that take a string and then returns a string that has had specific formatting applied to it. They would not serve much use if they did not ultimately return the string they created from the string you called them on. You can return literally any value in Python, not just strings and numbers. And as you get farther into the courses you'll start to get a better understand of why that is a useful. There are many functions where the function serves no real purpose if it does not actually return the value it worked on after it has finished. As for your question on code formatting, there is a link below the box where you write your comment labeled "Markdown Cheatsheet" which when clicked opens up a window with various formatting tips. For code formatting you simply need to write three backticks ``` then the name of the language you are embedding followed by a new line. Then paste in your code, then on a new line below your code enter three more backticks. Answer from andren on teamtreehouse.com