Operators

1. An expression is a combination of values (or variables, operators, calls to functions ‒ you will learn about them soon) which evaluates to a certain value, e.g., 1 + 2.

2. Operators are special symbols or keywords which are able to operate on the values and perform (mathematical) operations, e.g., the * operator multiplies two values: x * y.

 

3. Arithmetic operators in Python:

+ (addition),

- (subtraction),

* (multiplication),

/ (classic division ‒ always returns a float),

% (modulus ‒ divides left operand by right operand and returns the remainder of the operation, e.g., 5 % 2 = 1),

** (exponentiation ‒ left operand raised to the power of right operand, e.g., 2 ** 3 = 2 * 2 * 2 = 8),

// (floor/integer division ‒ returns a number resulting from division, but rounded down to the nearest whole number, e.g., 3 // 2.0 = 1.0)

 

4. A unary operator is an operator with only one operand, e.g.,

-1, or +3.

 

5. A binary operator is an operator with two operands, e.g.,

4 + 5, or 12 % 5.

 

6. Some operators act before others – the hierarchy of priorities:

• the ** operator (exponentiation) has the highest priority;
• then the unary + and - (note: a unary operator to the right of the exponentiation operator binds more strongly, for example: 4 ** -1 equals 0.25)
• then *, /, //, and %;
• and, finally, the lowest priority: the binary + and -.

 

7. Subexpressions in parentheses are always calculated first, e.g.,

15 - 1 * (5 * (1 + 2)) = 0.

 

8. The exponentiation operator uses right-sided binding, e.g.,

2 ** 2 ** 3 = 256.

 

Exercise 1

What is the output of the following snippet?

 

16 8.0 8

 

Exercise 2

What is the output of the following snippet?

 

-0.5 0.5 0 -1

 

Exercise 3

What is the output of the following snippet?

 

-2 2 512

 

Ex. 3

What is the output of the following code snippet?

 

2

Line 4 (step by step)

Step 1 – x = a or b

Step 2 – x = False or True

Result – x = True.

 

Line 5 (step by step)

Step 1 – y = a and b

Step 2 – y = False and True

Result – x = False.

 

Line 7 (step by step)

Step 1 – print(x + (not y))

Step 2 – print(True + (not False))

Step 3 – print(True + True)

Step 4 – print(1 + 1)

Step 5 – print(2)

Output – 2

A Boolean expression always returns one of two Boolean values True or False. However, if Boolean values are involved in arithmetic calculations, as in line 7, they are represented with their corresponding numerals 1 and 0.

 

Ex. 4

What is the output of the following code snippet?

 

Phhhhhh

 

Ex. 5