The % symbol is defined in Python as modulo operator. It can also be called remainder operator. It returns remainder of division of two numeric operands (except complex numbers).
>>> a=10 >>> b=3 >>> a%b 1 >>> a=12.25 >>> b=4 >>> a%b 0.25 >>> a=-10 >>> b=6 >>> a%b 2 >>> a=1.55 >>> b=0.05 >>> a%b 0.04999999999999996