Arithmetic Operations

Arithmetic operations

Python gives you the arithmetic you already know from math class, plus two operators that are new: floor division and modulus. This table is the whole set.

Operator	Name	Description
`a + b`	Addition	Sum of a and b
`a - b`	Subtraction	Difference of a and b
`a * b`	Multiplication	Product of a and b
`a / b`	True division	Quotient of a and b
`a // b`	Floor division	Quotient of a and b, removing fractional parts
`a % b`	Modulus	Remainder after division of a by b
`a ** b`	Exponentiation	a raised to the power of b
`-a`	Negation	The negative of a
`+a`	Unary plus	a unchanged (rarely used)

This set covers addition through floor division. Modulus gets a set of its own next, and exponentiation and negation come after that.

Mixing types

An expression on two floats produces a float.

When an expression's operands are an int and a float, Python automatically converts the int to a float.

True division vs floor division

The operator / is true division and the operator // returns floor division, which rounds down after the true divide. True divide / always gives the answer as a float.