True Division vs Floor Division in Python

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Today we’ll be talking about the difference between true division and floor division in Python.

There are two kinds of division operators:

1) true division /

2) floor division //

In true division the result of dividing two integers is a float:

>>> 12 / 4
3.0
>>> 20 / 3
6.666666666666667

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In floor division the result is truncated down, so the result is the floor – the largest integer number smaller than the result of true division:

>>> 12 // 4
3
>>> 20 // 3
6

If either the dividend or the divisor or both are floats, the result is a float. If both are integers, the result is an integer:

>>> 10 // 5         # int // int -> int
2

>>> 10 // 3         # int // int -> int
3

>>> 10.0 // 3       # float // int -> float
3.0

>>> 10 // 3.0       # int // float -> float
3.0

>>> 10.0 // 3.0     # float // float -> float
3.0

>>> 5.6 // 2        # float // int -> float
2.0