Operators and Expressions
1
Binary Operations
Op Meaning Example Remarks
+ Addition 9+2 is 11
9.1+2.0 is 11.1
- Subtraction 9-2 is 7
9.1-2.0 is 7.1
* Multiplication 9*2 is 18
9.1*2.0 is 18.2
/ Division 9/2 is 4.25 In Python3
9.1/2.0 is 4.55 Real div.
// Integer Division 9//2 is 4
% Remainder 9%2 is 1
08/12/2025 Programming 2
The // operator
• Also referred to as “integer division”
• Result is a whole integer (floor of real
division)
– But the type need not be int
– the integral part of the real division
– rounded towards minus infinity
• Examples
9//4 is 2 (-1)//2 is -1 (-1)//(-2) is 0
1//2 is 0 1//(-2) is -1 9//4.5 is 2.0
08/12/2025 Programming 3
The % operator
• The remainder operator % returns the
remainder of the result of dividing its
first operand by its second.
9%4 is 1 (-1)%2 is 1 (-1)//(-2) is 0
9%4.5 is 0.0 1%(-2) is 1 1%0.6 is 0.4
Ideally: x == (x//y)*y + x %y
08/12/2025 Programming 4
Conditional Statements
• In daily routine
– If it is very hot, I will skip
exercise.
– If there is a quiz tomorrow, I will
first study and then sleep.
Otherwise I will sleep now.
– If I have to buy coffee, I will
go left. Else I will go
straight.
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 5
if-else statement
• Compare two integers and print the min.
if x < y: 1. Check if x is less
print (x) than y.
2. If so, print x
else: 3. Otherwise, print y.
print (y)
print (‘is the minimum’)
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 6
Indentation
• Indentation is important in Python
– grouping of statement (block of statements)
– no explicit brackets, e.g. { }, to group statements
x,y = 6,10 Run
x the program
y
if x < y: 6 10
print (x)
else:
print (y) ed Output
i p p
sk the min’)
print (‘is 6
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 7
if statement (no else!)
• General form of the if statement
e
if boolean-expr : rt u
fals
e
S1
S1
S2
• Execution of if statement S2
– First the expression is evaluated.
– If it evaluates to a true value, then S1 is
executed and then control moves to the S2.
– If expression evaluates to false, then control
moves to the S2 directly.
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 8
if-else statement
• General form of the if-else statement
if boolean-expr : rt u
e
fa
S1
els
else: S1 S2
S2
S3 S3
• Execution of if-else statement
– First the expression is evaluated.
– If it evaluates to a true value, then S1 is executed and
then control moves to S3.
– If expression evaluates to false, then S2 is executed
and then control moves to S3.
– S1/S2 can be blocks of statements!
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 9
Nested if, if-else
if a <= b:
if a <= c:
…
else:
…
else:
if b <= c) :
…
else:
…
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 10
Elif
• A special kind of nesting is the chain of if-
else-if-else-… statements
• Can be written elegantly using if-elif-..-else
if cond1: if cond1:
s1 s1
else: elif cond2:
if cond2: s2
s2 elif cond3:
else: s3
if cond3: elif …
s3 else
else: last-block-of-stmt
…
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 11
Summary of if, if-else
• if-else, nested if's, elif.
• Multiple ways to solve a problem
–issues of readability,
maintainability
–and efficiency
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 12
Class Quiz
• What is the value of expression:
(5<2) and (3/0 > 1)
a) Run time crash/error
b) I don’t know / I don’t care
c) False
The correct answer is
False
d) True
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 13
Short-circuit Evaluation
• Do not evaluate the second operand of binary
short-circuit logical operator if the result can be
deduced from the first operand
– Also applies to nested logical operators
true false false true
not( (2>5) and (3/0 > 1) ) or (4/0 < 2)
Evaluates to true
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 14
3 Factors for Expr Evaluation
• Precedence
– Applied to two different class of operators
– + and *, - and *, and and or, …
• Associativity
– Applied to operators of same class
– * and *, + and -, * and /, …
• Order
– Precedence and associativity identify the operands for
each operator
– Not which operand is evaluated first
– Python evaluates expressions from left to right
– While evaluating an assignment, the right-hand side is
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 15
evaluated before the left-hand side.
Class Quiz
• What is the output of the following program:
y = 0.1*3
if y != 0.3:
print ('Launch a Missile')
else:
print ("Let's have peace")
Launch a Missile
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 16
Caution about Using Floats
• Representation of real numbers in a computer
can not be exact
– Computers have limited memory to store data
– Between any two distinct real numbers, there are
infinitely many real numbers.
• On a typical machine running Python, there are
53 bits of precision available for a Python float
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 17
Caution about Using Floats
• The value stored internally for the decimal
number 0.1 is the binary fraction
0.00011001100110011001100110011001100110011001100110011010
• Equivalent to decimal value
0.1000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625
• Approximation is similar to decimal
approximation 1/3 = 0.333333333...
• No matter how many digits you use, you have
an approximation
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 18
Comparing Floats
• Because of the approximations, comparison of
floats is not exact.
• Solution?
• Instead of
x == y
use
abs(x-y) <= epsilon
where epsilon is a suitably chosen small value
Aug 12, 2025 Programming 19
