Programming Tutorials

Numbers And Math in Python

By: Zed A. Shaw Printer Friendly Format    

Every programming language has some kind of way of doing numbers and math. Do not worry, programmers lie frequently about being math geniuses when they really aren’t. If they were math geniuses, they would be doing math, not writing ads and social network games to steal people’s money.

This exercise has lots of math symbols. Let’s name them right away so you know what they are called. As you type this one in, say the names. When saying them feels boring you can stop saying them. Here are the names:

• + plus
• - minus
• / slash
• * asterisk
• % percent
• < less-than
• > greater-than
• <= less-than-equal
• >= greater-than-equal

Notice how the operations are missing? After you type in the code for this exercise, go back and figure out what each
of these does and complete the table. For example, + does addition.

1 print "I will now count my chickens:"
2
3 print "Hens", 25 + 30 / 6
4 print "Roosters", 100 - 25 * 3 % 4
5
6 print "Now I will count the eggs:"
7
8 print 3 + 2 + 1 - 5 + 4 % 2 - 1 / 4 + 6
9
10 print "Is it true that 3 + 2 < 5 - 7?"
11
12 print 3 + 2 < 5 - 7
13
14 print "What is 3 + 2?", 3 + 2
15 print "What is 5 - 7?", 5 - 7
16
17 print "Oh, that's why it's False."
18
19 print "How about some more."
20
21 print "Is it greater?", 5 > -2
22 print "Is it greater or equal?", 5 >= -2
23 print "Is it less or equal?", 5 <= -2

What You Should See

$ python ex3.py
I will now count my chickens:
Hens 30
Roosters 97
Now I will count the eggs:
7
Is it true that 3 + 2 < 5 - 7?
False
What is 3 + 2? 5
What is 5 - 7? -2
Oh, that's why it's False.
How about some more.
Is it greater? True
Is it greater or equal? True
Is it less or equal? False
$