title: How to let Python recognize both lower and uppercase input?
body: <p>I am new to Python. I am writing a program that distinguishes whether or not a word starts with a vowel. The problem is, that the program is only able to correctly handle uppercase letters as input. For example, if I provide the word "Apple" as input, the result is <code>True</code>; however, if the word "apple" is provided as input, the result is <code>False</code>. How do I fix it? </p>
  
  <pre><code>word = input ("Please Enter a word:")
  if (word [1] =="A") :
      print("The word begins with a vowel")
  elif (word [1] == "E") :
      print("The word begins with a vowel")
  elif (word [1] == "I") :
      print("The word begins with a vowel")
  elif (word [1] == "O") :
      print("The word begins with a vowel")
  elif (word [1] == "U") :
      print("The word begins with a vowel")
  else:
      print ("The word do not begin with a vowel")
  </code></pre>