# Lab 5, Task 5
# CptS 111
# John B. Schneider
#
# Function to calculate:
#
#   f(x, k_max) = 1 + x + x ** 2 + x ** 3 + ... + x ** k_max
#

def f(x, k_max):
    sum = 1.0
    for k in range(1, k_max):
        sum = sum + x ** k
    return sum