<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <link rel="STYLESHEET" href="ref.css" type='text/css' /> <link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="../icons/pyfav.gif" /> <link rel='start' href='../index.html' title='Python Documentation Index' /> <link rel="first" href="ref.html" title='Python Reference Manual' /> <link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" /> <link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index' /> <link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <LINK rel="next" href="atoms.html"> <LINK rel="prev" href="expressions.html"> <LINK rel="parent" href="expressions.html"> <LINK rel="next" href="atoms.html"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <meta name='aesop' content='information' /> <META name="description" content="Arithmetic conversions"> <META name="keywords" content="ref"> <META name="resource-type" content="document"> <META name="distribution" content="global"> <title>5.1 Arithmetic conversions</title> </head> <body> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div id='top-navigation-panel'> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="5. 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Expressions</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="expressions.html">5. Expressions</A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="atoms.html">5.2 Atoms</A> </div> <hr /></div> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H1><A NAME="SECTION007100000000000000000"><!--x--></A><A NAME="conversions"><!--z--></A> <BR> 5.1 Arithmetic conversions </H1> <a id='l2h-329'><!--x--></a> <P> When a description of an arithmetic operator below uses the phrase ``the numeric arguments are converted to a common type,'' the arguments are coerced using the coercion rules listed at the end of chapter <A href="datamodel.html#datamodel">3</A>. If both arguments are standard numeric types, the following coercions are applied: <P> <UL> <LI>If either argument is a complex number, the other is converted to complex; </LI> <LI>otherwise, if either argument is a floating point number, the other is converted to floating point; </LI> <LI>otherwise, if either argument is a long integer, the other is converted to long integer; </LI> <LI>otherwise, both must be plain integers and no conversion is necessary. </LI> </UL> <P> Some additional rules apply for certain operators (e.g., a string left argument to the `%' operator). Extensions can define their own coercions. <P> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div class='online-navigation'><hr /> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="5. Expressions" rel="prev" title="5. 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