Expressions and operators

Lesson 2 gave values names. This lesson is about combining them. An expression is any piece of code that Python can work out to a single value: 42 is an expression, so is price * stock, and so is stock < reorder_point. Operators are the symbols that combine values inside expressions, such as + for addition and < for 'less than'. Ridgeline's programs are full of expressions: the value of the stock, the number of bags a batch fills, the change owed to a customer, and the yes-or-no question of whether a coffee needs roasting.

You will learn the arithmetic operators, including two that surprise newcomers, the comparison operators that produce True or False, and the logical operators and, or and not that combine those answers. You will also learn the order in which Python applies operators, and how to use parentheses to make your intentions clear.

Arithmetic operators

Python has seven arithmetic operators. Four are familiar from school: + adds, - subtracts, * multiplies and / divides. The other three are floor division //, which divides and rounds down to a whole number, the remainder or modulo operator %, which gives what is left over after floor division, and exponentiation **, which raises a number to a power.

Floor division and remainder belong together. When Kai roasts a batch that yields 10,250 grams of coffee, 10250 // 340 says how many full 340-gram bags it fills, and 10250 % 340 says how many grams are left over for the sample jar. The two results always fit back together: bags times 340 plus the leftover gives the original weight. Python's built-in function divmod returns both at once.

roasted_g = 10250
bag_g = 340
full_bags = roasted_g // bag_g
left_over = roasted_g % bag_g
print("Full bags:", full_bags)
print("Grams left over:", left_over)
print("Check:", full_bags * bag_g + left_over)
print("divmod gives:", divmod(roasted_g, bag_g))

Full bags: 30
Grams left over: 50
Check: 10250
divmod gives: (30, 50)

The remainder operator has many uses beyond leftovers. A number is even when n % 2 is 0. Mei's stamp card gives every tenth drink free, so drink number n is free when n % 10 is 0. Converting 135 minutes to hours and minutes uses 135 // 60 for the hours and 135 % 60 for the minutes. Whenever a problem involves cycles, groups of a fixed size or wrapping around, think of % and //.

drink_number = 30
print("Free drink?", drink_number % 10 == 0)
roast_minutes = 135
print(roast_minutes // 60, "hours and", roast_minutes % 60, "minutes")
print("Is 42 even?", 42 % 2 == 0)

Free drink? True
2 hours and 15 minutes
Is 42 even? True

Division with / always produces a float, even when the numbers divide exactly. Floor division of two integers gives an integer, but floor division involving a float gives a float, so 10.0 // 3 is 3.0. Note also that floor division rounds down, towards negative infinity, not towards zero, so -7 // 2 is -4. Negative numbers rarely appear in stock counts, but they do in temperatures and account balances, so it is worth knowing.

Order of operations

When an expression contains several operators, Python applies them in a fixed order called precedence. Exponentiation comes first, then the unary minus that makes a number negative, then multiplication, division, floor division and remainder, then addition and subtraction, then comparisons, then not, then and, and finally or. Operators of equal precedence are applied from left to right, except ** which works from right to left.

Precedence explains why 2 + 3 * 4 is 14 and not 20: the multiplication happens first. Parentheses override precedence, so (2 + 3) * 4 is 20. The best advice is to use parentheses whenever there is any chance a reader could be unsure, even if Python would get it right without them. Code is read far more often than it is written.

price = 5.25
qty = 2
muffin = 3.75
print(price * qty + muffin)          # multiplication first
print(price * (qty + 1))             # three lattes
subtotal = price * qty + muffin
tax_rate = 0.05
print(round(subtotal * (1 + tax_rate), 2))

14.25
15.75
14.96

A classic mistake is calculating an average as a + b + c / 3, which divides only c by three. The intended expression is (a + b + c) / 3. Another is writing a fraction such as a cost per kilogram as cost / green_kg * 1000 when you meant cost / (green_kg * 1000). Reading each expression aloud with its parentheses usually catches these slips.

Operators on strings

Some arithmetic operators also work on strings, with meanings that make sense for text. The + operator concatenates, or joins, two strings into one. The * operator repeats a string a whole number of times, which is handy for drawing simple lines in text reports. Other operators, such as - and /, have no meaning for strings and cause a TypeError.

first = "Sunrise"
second = "Blend"
print(first + " " + second)
print("=" * 24)
print("Stock report".upper())
print("-" * 24)
bags = 42
print("Bags: " + str(bags))

Sunrise Blend
========================
STOCK REPORT
------------------------
Bags: 42

Mixing types with + is the most common TypeError for beginners. Python will not guess whether 'Bags: ' + 42 means joining text or adding numbers, so it refuses, with the message can only concatenate str (not "int") to str. Convert the number with str first, or pass the values to print separated by commas, or use the f-strings introduced in lesson 4, which are the neatest solution.

Comparison operators

Comparison operators ask a question about two values and answer with a Boolean, True or False. There are six: == for equal to, != for not equal to, < for less than, > for greater than, <= for less than or equal to, and >= for greater than or equal to. These answers drive every decision a program makes, as lesson 5 will show.

stock = 9
reorder_point = 10
print(stock < reorder_point)
print(stock == 9)
print(stock != 9)
print(stock >= reorder_point)
print("RC-104" == "RC-104")
print("latte" == "Latte")

True
True
False
False
True
False

Do not confuse == with =. A single equals sign assigns; a double equals sign compares. Writing if stock = 0 is a syntax error in Python, which protects you from a mistake that causes subtle bugs in some other languages. Strings compare character by character, so the comparison is case-sensitive: 'latte' and 'Latte' are different. Strings also compare by alphabetical order using the underlying character codes, so 'Colombia' < 'Ethiopia' is True, but every capital letter comes before every lowercase letter.

Python lets you chain comparisons in a natural way. The expression 100 <= points < 300 is True when points is at least 100 and below 300, which is exactly Ridgeline's Roast loyalty tier. Most languages require you to write two separate comparisons joined with and; in Python the chained form is both shorter and clearer.

points = 180
print("Roast tier?", 100 <= points < 300)
drop_temp = 212
print("Drop temperature in range?", 205 <= drop_temp <= 225)

Roast tier? True
Drop temperature in range? True

Logical operators

The logical operators and, or and not combine Booleans. An expression with and is True only when both sides are True. An expression with or is True when at least one side is True. The operator not flips True to False and False to True. These words read almost like English, which makes Python conditions easy to follow.

stock = 9
reorder_point = 10
roaster_free = True
print("Roast today?", stock < reorder_point and roaster_free)
is_weekend = False
is_holiday = True
print("Closed?", is_weekend or is_holiday)
print("Open?", not (is_weekend or is_holiday))

Roast today? True
Closed? True
Open? False

Python evaluates and and or lazily, an approach called short-circuit evaluation. If the left side of an and is False, the whole expression must be False, so Python does not even look at the right side; if the left side of an or is True, the result must be True. This matters when the right side could fail. For example, bags > 0 and total / bags > 20 never divides by zero, because when bags is 0 the division is skipped.

Combining several logical operators raises precedence questions again: not binds tightest, then and, then or. The expression a or b and c means a or (b and c). As with arithmetic, add parentheses whenever a reader might hesitate.

roasted_g = 10250
bag_g = 340
full_bags = 0
left_over = 0
print(full_bags, left_over)

Putting expressions together

Real calculations combine several operators and variables. Theo's online shop charges a flat shipping fee of 8.00 for orders below 50.00 and ships free above that. A program can compute the shipping fee without any if statement at all, using the fact that True behaves like 1 and False like 0 in arithmetic. That trick is clever, and you will see it in other people's code, but for clarity Ridgeline's programs will usually use the if statements of lesson 5.

order_total = 37.00
shipping = 8.00 * (order_total < 50)
print("Shipping:", shipping)
print("To pay:", order_total + shipping)
order_total = 64.50
shipping = 8.00 * (order_total < 50)
print("Shipping:", shipping, "To pay:", order_total + shipping)

Shipping: 8.0
To pay: 45.0
Shipping: 0.0 To pay: 64.5

Built-in functions are another source of values inside expressions. You have met print, type, int, float, str and round. Others that are useful with numbers are abs, which removes the sign from a number, min and max, which choose the smallest and largest of several values, and pow, which is the same as **. The math module, which you import with import math, adds square roots, rounding up and down, and constants such as pi.

import math
print(abs(-3.5))
print(max(42, 15, 27, 9))
print(min(42, 15, 27, 9))
print(math.ceil(43 / 6))      # boxes needed for 43 bags, 6 to a box
print(math.floor(10.2))
print(math.sqrt(144))

3.5
42
9
8
10
12.0

The math.ceil call answers a real shipping question: 43 bags packed six to a box need 43 / 6 = 7.17 boxes, which in the physical world means 8 boxes. Rounding up is the right choice here, and rounding to the nearest number would leave one bag without a box. Choosing between round, floor and ceil is a small decision that experienced programmers make deliberately.

paid = 20.00
total = 5.25 + 3.75
change_cents = round((paid - total) * 100)
dollars = change_cents // 100
cents = change_cents % 100
print("Change:", dollars, "dollars and", cents, "cents")
print("Fives:", dollars // 5, "Ones:", dollars % 5)

Change: 11 dollars and 0 cents
Fives: 2 Ones: 1

stock = 9
reorder_point = 10
green_kg_available = 15
needs_roast = False
print(needs_roast)