title: Declare variables for the number and the total
body: <pre><code># Declare variables for the number, and the
  # total.
  
  def main():
  # Initialize for while loop
      number = 1.0
      total = 0.0
  
  # Continue adding numbers while they are positive.
  while number &gt; 0:
      number = float(input('Enter a positive number' \ ' (negative to quit): '))
  
      # Check that number is positive so as
      # not to change value of the total.
      if number &gt; 0:
          total != total + number
      if number &gt; 0:
          total == total + number
  
  # Display total.
  print ('Total =', format.(total, '.2f'))
  
  main()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>everytime I run it says 'unexpected character after line continuation character'</p>
  
  <p>what am I doing wrong??</p>