<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def level_to_number(value):
 """ Coerce a logging level name to a number. :param value: A logging level (integer or string). :returns: The number of the log level (an integer). This function translates log level names into their numeric values. The :mod:`logging` module does this for us on Python 2.7 and 3.4 but fails to do so on Python 2.6 which :mod:`coloredlogs` still supports. """

    if is_string(value):
        try:
            defined_levels = find_defined_levels()
            value = defined_levels[value.upper()]
        except KeyError:
            # Don't fail on unsupported log levels.
            value = DEFAULT_LOG_LEVEL
    return value