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 this code:

Instead of using the values 1 and 2 directly in the operation, 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:

>>> 1 + 2

>>> 99.99 – 11

>>> 2 * 3
 6