Answer: The current color is green, and the number of reds is 2.
Explanation: This solution assumes that we start with a green light.
If the traffic light was initially green, the counter has values 0123456. If the traffic light was initially red, the counter has values 2 3 4 5 6 7 8…
To compute the current color and the number of reds, we can use integer division and remainder. Let’s assume that we start with a green light. We can define a counter that starts at 0 and increments by 1 each time we call the next method. We can then compute the current color and the number of reds as follows:
counter = 0
num_reds = counter // 3
current_color = 'green' if num_reds % 2 == 0 else 'red'
Here, // is the integer division operator and % is the remainder operator. The expression counter // 3 gives us the number of times we have advanced the counter since the last red light. The expression num_reds % 2 == 0 checks whether we are currently in a green or red phase.
For example, if we call next six times, we get:
counter = 6
num_reds = counter // 3 = 2
current_color = 'red' (since num_reds % 2 == 0 is False)
So the current color is red and there have been two red phases so far.
Hope this helps, and have a great day!