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Python Python Basics Functions and Looping Functions

Posted by Tyler Marks
Tyler Marks
323 Points

question why the double // when dividing why not just one?

i get that it is dividing the number of ! but still why 2, lastly why the "!" quotes around the ! it not a word and we are assigning a function why are the "" necessary only around the ! i lied my bad, this is my last one, how does the "!" * work if you count the ! its not doubled so what is the line of code saying before he shows us the def function ?

3 Answers

Nick Evershed
Nick Evershed
6,429 Points

Its the language syntax, if you do 8 // 8 you get the result 1, if you do 8 / 8 you will get the float value, 1.0, sometimes you are working with floats (I never actually knew this until i just tried it now)

Jeff Muday
Jeff Muday
Treehouse Moderator 28,722 Points
Jeff Muday
Jeff Muday
Treehouse Moderator 28,722 Points

Nick-- great answer. I upvoted it.

Elaborating further-- // is called the "double division" operator, it returns the "floor" result of a division. It conforms to the Python division operation type conversion standard.

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/benefits-of-double-division-operator-over-single-division-operator-in-python/

Hazim Sami
Hazim Sami
10,555 Points

Thanks for clarifying it, Nick.

Arnold Ganga
Arnold Ganga
1,698 Points
Arnold Ganga
Arnold Ganga
1,698 Points

he used // (i.e double division operator) because he wants to keep and use the number_of_characters in integer form....if he used /(i.e. single division operator) the number_of_characters would be converted to a float data type which will return an error(TypeError: can't multiply sequence by non-int of type 'float')

Nick Evershed
Nick Evershed
6,429 Points
Nick Evershed
Nick Evershed
6,429 Points

:)