Ubuntu Unleashed 2013 Edition: Covering 12.10 and 13.04, Eighth Edition

Numbers

The way Python handles numbers is more precise than some other languages. It has all the normal operators—such as + for addition, - for subtraction, / for division, and * for multiplication—but it adds % for modulus (division remainder), ** for raise to the power, and // for floor division. It is also specific about which type of number is being used, as this example shows:

>>> a = 5>>> b = 10>>> a * b50>>> a / b0>>> b = 10.0>>> a / b0.5>>> a // b0.0

The first division returns 0 because both a and b are integers (whole numbers), so Python calculates the division as an integer, giving 0. By converting b to 10.0, Python considers it to be a floating-point number, and so the division is now calculated as a floating-point value, giving