"""
 Find the largest palindrome made from the product of two 3-digit numbers.
"""

def is_palindrome(n):
    """ Return true if n is a palindrome
        >>> is_palindrome(23)
        False
        >>> is_palindrome(101)
        True
    """
    list1 = list(str(n))
    list2 = list(list1)   # make sure this a copy
    list2.reverse()
    #print "list1 = ", list1
    #print "list2 = ", list2
    return list1 == list2

biggest = 0
(ibig, jbig) = (0, 0)
for i in range(100, 1000):
    for j in range(100, 1000):
        product = i*j
        if is_palindrome(product):
            if product > biggest:
                biggest = product
                (ibig, jbig) = (i,j)
print "biggest is %i * %i = %i" % (ibig, jbig, biggest)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import doctest
    doctest.testmod()