title: Returning everything but the first letter of a string in python
body: <p>So I understand how to return everything but the first letter in a string in python. I want to know why coding it in a specific way does not work. My professor told me to return everything but the first letter of a string it would look something like this...</p>
  
  <p>a = 'garden'</p>
  
  <p>a[1:len(a) - 1]</p>
  
  <p>But when I run this in the interpreter I get </p>
  
  <p>'arde' instead of 'arden'.</p>
  
  <p>I know that len(a) - 1 returns 5 and that the 5th indice of a is n. Also if i say something like</p>
  
  <p>a[1] + a[2] + a[3] + a[4] + a[5] </p>
  
  <p>I returns...</p>
  
  <p>'arden'.</p>
  
  <p>So what am I missing? I feel like this is just some nuance of python and I should make note of this I just wanted to make sure that I am not missing something important. Thanks!!</p>