Combined operators in Python

 

What does the following Python code return?

a = 9

b = 7

a *= 2

b += a // 3

a %= 4

print(a, b)

Answer: Let's break down the code step by step:

a = 9

b = 7

Here, a is assigned the value 9, and b is assigned the value 7.

Step 1: a *= 2

This is a combined multiplication assignment operator (*=). It multiplies a by 2 and then assigns the result back to a.

a = a * 2
• a = 9 * 2 = 18 Now, a = 18.

Step 2: b += a // 3

This is a combined addition assignment operator (+=). It adds the result of a // 3 to b and assigns the result back to b.

• a // 3 performs integer division of a by 3. Since a = 18, we calculate 18 // 3 = 6.
• Now, b += 6, which means b = b + 6 = 7 + 6 = 13. Now, b = 13.

Step 3: a %= 4

This is a combined modulus assignment operator (%=). It calculates the remainder when a is divided by 4 and assigns the result back to a.

a = a % 4
• a = 18 % 4 = 2 (since the remainder when dividing 18 by 4 is 2). Now, a = 2.

Final Output:

After all the operations:

a = 2

b = 13

So, the code will print:  2 13