While this is correct, have a look at match to handle situations like this.

Loved this problem -- definitely have a lot to learn, but managed to cobble something together that worked. Will definitely study how more proficient python developers approached this.

Nice work. My first inclination was to use a dictionary as well but threw together what I felt was an elegant solution not realizing that I had pushed myself past linear time. My solution was O(n^2).

vs this I found that with arrays with significant data, your solution out performed my solution significantly. It's less evident on smaller arrays so I'm thankful I dug a bit further to illustrate this for myself. +1'd