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Arithmetic Operators

The summary provides an overview of the key learning objectives and concepts around arithmetic operators in Python: 1) The document defines common arithmetic symbols and operations in Python like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and modulo. It describes how operators work with different data types like integers, floats, strings, and Booleans. 2) Common techniques like type casting, incrementing/decrementing variables, string concatenation, and order of operations are demonstrated through examples. Shorthand notation for operations like += and -= is also introduced. 3) Special cases for division like floor division and powers are covered. The square root function from the math library is shown. Modulo as the remainder of a division operation is defined

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41 views

Arithmetic Operators

The summary provides an overview of the key learning objectives and concepts around arithmetic operators in Python: 1) The document defines common arithmetic symbols and operations in Python like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and modulo. It describes how operators work with different data types like integers, floats, strings, and Booleans. 2) Common techniques like type casting, incrementing/decrementing variables, string concatenation, and order of operations are demonstrated through examples. Shorthand notation for operations like += and -= is also introduced. 3) Special cases for division like floor division and powers are covered. The square root function from the math library is shown. Modulo as the remainder of a division operation is defined

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GR
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Learning Objectives - Arithmetic

Operators

Define the symbols for arithmetic operations

Describe what happens when the + and * operators are


used with strings

Demonstrate how to increment or decrement a variable

Identify the order of operations


Addition

The Addition (+) Operator


The addition operator works as you would expect with numbers.

print(7 + 3)

You can also add two variables together.

a = 7
b = 3
c = a + b
print(c)

challenge

What happens if you:


Make a of type float (e.g. a = 7.0)?
Make b a negative number (e.g. b = -3)?
Make b an explicitly positive number (e.g. b = +3)
Incrementing Variables

Incrementing Variables
Incrementing a variable means to change the value of a variable by a set
amount. You will most often have a counting variable, which means you
will increment by 1.

a = 0
a = a + 1
print(a)

How to Read a = a + 1
The variable a appears twice on the same line of code. But each instance of
a refers to something different.

How to Read a = a + 1

The += Operator
Incrementing is a common task for programmers. Many programming
languages have developed a shorthand for a = a + 1 because of this. a +=
1 does the same thing as a = a + 1.

a = 0
b = 0
a = a + 1
b += 1
print(a)
print(b)
challenge

What happens if you:


Change b such that b += 2?
Change b such that b += -1?
Change b such that b -= 1?
Type Casting

Type Casting
Type casting (or type conversion) is when you change the data type of a
variable.

a = 3
print(type(a))
a = str(a)
print(type(a))

What does type mean?


The type command returns the data type of the value stored in a variable.
Python abbreviates these types: int is an integer, float is a floating point
number, str is a string, and bool is a boolean.

a is initially an integer, but str(a) converted a into a string.

challenge

What happens if you:


Convert a to a floating point number?
Convert a to a boolean?

Why Type Cast?


Do you know why the code below will not work?

a = 5
b = "3"
print(a + b)

You cannot add a string to an integer. You can convert b to an integer to fix


the problem.
a = 5
b = "3"
print(a + int(b))

Data read from the keyboard or a file is always stored as a string. If you
want to use this data, you will need to know how to convert it to the proper
data type.
String Concatenation

String Concatenation
String concatenation is the act of combining two strings together. This is
done with the + operator.

a = "This is an "
b = "example string"
c = a + b
print(c)

Strings can also use the += operator for concatenation.

a = "This is an "
b = "example string"
a += b
print(a)

challenge

What happens if you:


Concatenate two strings without an extra space (e.g. a = "This is
an")?
Add 3 to a string?
Add "3" to a string?
Subtraction

Subtraction

a = 10
b = 3
c = a - b
print(c)

challenge

What happens if you:


Change b to -3?
Change c to c = a - -b?
Change b to 3.0?
Change b to False?

Subtracting a Boolean?
In Python, boolean value are more than just true and false. False has the
numerical value of 0, while true has the numerical value of 1. This is why
doing math with a boolean does not give you an error message.

The -= Operator
Decrementing is the opposite of incrementing. Like +=, there is a shorthand
for decrementing a variable - -=.

a = 10
b = 3
a -= b
print(a)

Subtraction and Strings


You might be able to concatenate strings with the + operator, but you
cannot use the - operator with them.
Division

Division
Division in Python is done with the / operator

a = 25
b = 5
print(a / b)

challenge

What happens if you:


Change b to 0?
Change b to True?
Change b to 0.5?
Change the code to

a = 25
b = 5
a /= b
print(a)

Reminder

/= works similar to += and -=


True has the value of 1
False has the value of 0

Floor Division
Normal division in Python always returns a float. If you want a whole
number, use floor division (//). Floor division does not round up, nor
round down. It removes the decimal value from the answer.
Floor Division

a = 5
b = 2
print(a // b)

challenge

What happens if you:


Change b to 5.1?

Why is there a decimal?

If floor division is about returning a whole number, why is the output


of the above code 0.0? Floor division will always return the value of a
whole number even if the data type is a float. That is, if floor division
returns a float, then it will always be .0 for the decimal value. If you
really want an integer as the result of floor division, you can always
type cast.

a = 5
b = 2
print(int(a // b))
Multiplication

Multiplication
Python uses the * operator for multiplication.

a = 5
b = 10
print (a * b)

challenge

What happens if you:


Change b to 0.1?
Change b to -3?
Change b to True?

Reminder

*= works similar to += and -=


True has the value of 1
False has the value of 0

Multiplication & Strings


Python allows you to multiply a string by a number.

a = 3
b = "Hello!"
print(a * b)
challenge

What happens if you:


Change a to 3.0?
Change a to -3?
Powers

Powers
Python uses the ** operator for powers (or exponents). So 2 ** 2 would be
two to the second power.

a = 2 ** 2
print(a)

challenge

What happens if you:


Change a to 2 ** 0?
Change a to 2 ** -2?
Change a to 2 ** False?

Square Root
The square root of 4 can be calculated as 4 raised to the power of . In
Python, this is written as 4 ** 0.5.

The sqrt function

Python does have a sqrt function, but it requires you to import the math
library. Libraries will be covered in a later lesson.

import math

square_root = math.sqrt(4)
print(square_root)

square_root = 4 ** 0.5
print(square_root)
Order of Operations

Order of Operations
Python uses the PEMDAS method for determining order of operations.

PEMDAS

The code below should output 7.0.

a = 2
b = 3
c = 4
result = 3 * a ** 3 / (b + 5) + c
print(result)

Explanation

The first step is to compute b + 5 (which is 8) because it is surrounded


by parentheses.
Next, calculate a ** 3 (which is 8) because it is an exponent.
Next, do the multiplication and division going from left to right. 3 * 8 is
24.
24 divided by 8 is 3.0 (remember, the / operator returns a float).
Finally, add 3.0 and 4 together to get 7.0.
challenge

Mental Math
5 + 7 - 10 * 3 / 0.5

Solution

Step 1: 10 * 3 = 30

Step 2: 30 / 0.5 = 60.0

Step 3: 7 - 60.0 = -53.0

Step 4: 5 + -53.0 = -48.0

Solution: -48.0

(5 * 8) - 7 ** 2 - (-1 * 18)

Solution

Step 1: 5 * 8 = 40
Step 2: -1 * 18 = -18
Step 3: 7 ** 2 = 49
Step 4: 40 - 49 = -9
Step 5: -9 - -18 = 9
Solution: 9

9 / 3 + (100 ** 0.5) - 3

Solution

Step 1: 100 ** 0.5 = 10


Step 2: 9 / 3 = 3.0
Step 3: 3.0 + 10 = 13.0
Step 4: 13.0 - 3 = 10.0
Solution: 10.0
Modulo

Modulo
Modulo is the mathematical operation that performs division but returns
the remainder. The modulo operator is %. The modulo operation happens
during the multiplication and division step of the order of operations.

Modulo

modulo = 5 % 2
print(modulo)

Order of Operations
Modulo is treated like multiplication or division, and is performed in a left
to right manner.

challenge

What happens if you:


Change modulo to 5 % -2?
Change modulo to 5 % 0?
Change modulo to 5 % True?
Formative Assessment 1
Formative Assessment 2

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