Core Python Programming

5.1. Introduction to Numbers

Numbers provide literal or scalar storage and direct access. Numbers are also an immutable type, meaning that changing or updating its value results in a newly allocated object. This activity is, of course, transparent to both the programmer and the user, so it should not change the way the application is developed.

Python has four types of numbers: “plain” integers, long integers, floating point real numbers, and complex numbers.

How to Create and Assign Numbers (Number Objects)

Creating numbers is as simple as assigning a value to a variable:

anInt = 1
1aLong = -9999999999999999L
aFloat = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795
aComplex = 1.23 + 4.56J

How to Update Numbers

You can “update” an existing number by (re)assigning ...