Basic Operators — PythonLessonLab

THE IDEA

Understand the concept

Arithmetic operators combine numbers. The slash performs division, double slash gives floor division, percent gives the remainder, and double asterisks raise a value to a power.

Comparison operators such as ==, !=, >, and <= produce booleans. Parentheses make the intended order of evaluation clear when an expression has several operators.

Arithmetic operators
Comparison returns bool
Parentheses control grouping

WORKED EXAMPLES

See it step by step

Read the code, predict the output, then compare it with the result.

01. Divide into full boxes

PYTHON

items = 18
box_size = 4
print(items // box_size)
print(items % box_size)

EXPECTED OUTPUT

4
2

// counts full boxes and % gives the two items left over.

02. Group and compare

PYTHON

print((2 + 3) * 4)
print(7 > 5)

EXPECTED OUTPUT

20
True

Parentheses make addition happen first. The comparison produces a Boolean value.

HANDS-ON

Try it in Python

Edit the example and run it. Python starts in your browser the first time you click Run.

Python console

Ready to run

total = 7
teams = 2
print(total / teams)
print(total // teams)
print(total % teams)
print(2 ** 3)
print(total > teams)

Need input()? Add one value per line

Input lines

Ctrl / ⌘ + Enter to run

OUTPUT

Your output appears here.

Your turnCalculate the number of full boxes and leftover items when 23 items are packed in boxes of 5. Print both results.

Need a hint?

Use 23 // 5 for the full boxes and 23 % 5 for leftovers. Print each result, with or without a descriptive label.

Complete the task and select Check task to verify your code.

KNOWLEDGE CHECK

Quick quiz

Three questions. You can change your answers and try again.

DEBUG BETTER

Typical mistakes

Everyone meets these errors. See what causes them and how to fix them.

Using ^ for powers

COMMON MISTAKE

print(2 ^ 3)

FIX

print(2 ** 3)

What happens: It prints 1 because ^ is bitwise XOR.
Python's exponentiation operator is **.

Dividing by zero