Operators
Operators take one or two values (or variables), perform an operation, and return a value. Let's check out a simple example of using an operator, just to clarify the terminology:
> 1 + 2; 3
In the preceding code:
- The
+
symbol is the operator - The operation is addition
- The input values are
1
and2
(they are also called operands) - The result value is
3
- The whole thing is called an expression
Instead of using the values 1
and 2
directly in the expression, you can use variables. You can also use a variable to store the result of the operation as the following example demonstrates:
> var a = 1; > var b = 2; > a + 1; 2 > b + 2; 4 > a + b; 3 > var c = a + b; > c; 3
The following table lists the basic arithmetic operators:
Operator symbol |
Operation |
Example |
|
Addition |
> 1 + 2; 3
|
|
Subtraction |
> 99.99 - 11; 88.99
|
|
Multiplication |
> 2 * 3; 6
|
|