What are the differences between python// operator vs / operator?

244 Asked by Unnatigautam in Python , Asked on Dec 14, 2023

I was designing a Python application that can be used for calculations of heavy numeric values, however, I was stuck in a scenario where I could not decide whether to use “//” or “/” in Python for performing division operations. How can I decide between both?

Answered by Chloe Burgess

In the context of Python the difference between python// operator vs / is very minor. The / operator in Python is used for performing floating-point division. It means it returns a float number as the conclusion. It doesn’t discard the fractional part of the results. On the other hand, the // operator in Python is also used for performing floor division however, it provides the conclusion in the form of an integer. Therefore, it discards the fractional part of the result.

Here is the instance given to showcase the difference:-

# Floating-point division

Result_float = 7 / 3  # Output: 2.3333333333333335

# Floor division

Result_int = 7 // 3  # Output: 2

Therefore, the choice depends upon your needs and requirements. If you need to include the fractional part or perform floating-point division then you can use the / operator of the Python programming language, however, if your requirements are not matched with the floating-point division and want the fractional part should be discarded then you should use // operator of python.

What are the differences between python// operator vs / operator?

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