Introducing operations on numbers

The basic arithmetic operators on numbers are addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), and division (/). They are binary operations, as they work on one pair of expressions at a time. They work largely as you would expect them to for both integers (whole numbers) and real numbers (numbers with fractions). Division of two real numbers results in a real number. Division of two whole numbers results in a whole number; any possible fraction part is discarded from the result. There is also the modulo operator (%) that will provide the integer remainder of the division of two integers.

For example, 12.0 / 5.0 (two real numbers) evaluates to 2.5, whereas 12 / 5 (two integers) evaluates to 2. If we were working only with integers and we needed the remainder of 12 / 5, we would use the remainder operator, %. Thus, 12 % 5 evaluates to another integer, 2.

Many languages have an exponent operator. C does not. To raise an expression to a power,...