• **: exponentiation
  • ^: exclusive-or (bitwise)
  • %: modulus
  • //: divide with integral result (discard remainder)
Answer from John Zwinck on Stack Overflow
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IONOS
ionos.com › digital guide › websites › web development › python mean
What is the Python mean method? - IONOS
January 23, 2024 - This result is always output as a floating-point number, displayed as “np.mean([1, 3, 2])”. The mean value of these numbers is exactly 2 although it’s displayed as “2.0”. In addition, this example shows that you can pass the list on ...
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Python.org
discuss.python.org › python help
What is ... meaning in python - Python Help - Discussions on Python.org
August 28, 2023 - Can someone explain to me what the … means here? like this: days: float = ..., or : def dst(self) -> timedelta | None: ...
Top answer
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  • **: exponentiation
  • ^: exclusive-or (bitwise)
  • %: modulus
  • //: divide with integral result (discard remainder)
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You can find all of those operators in the Python language reference, though you'll have to scroll around a bit to find them all. As other answers have said:

  • The ** operator does exponentiation. a ** b is a raised to the b power. The same ** symbol is also used in function argument and calling notations, with a different meaning (passing and receiving arbitrary keyword arguments).
  • The ^ operator does a binary xor. a ^ b will return a value with only the bits set in a or in b but not both. This one is simple!
  • The % operator is mostly to find the modulus of two integers. a % b returns the remainder after dividing a by b. Unlike the modulus operators in some other programming languages (such as C), in Python a modulus it will have the same sign as b, rather than the same sign as a. The same operator is also used for the "old" style of string formatting, so a % b can return a string if a is a format string and b is a value (or tuple of values) which can be inserted into a.
  • The // operator does Python's version of integer division. Python's integer division is not exactly the same as the integer division offered by some other languages (like C), since it rounds towards negative infinity, rather than towards zero. Together with the modulus operator, you can say that a == (a // b)*b + (a % b). In Python 2, floor division is the default behavior when you divide two integers (using the normal division operator /). Since this can be unexpected (especially when you're not picky about what types of numbers you get as arguments to a function), Python 3 has changed to make "true" (floating point) division the norm for division that would be rounded off otherwise, and it will do "floor" division only when explicitly requested. (You can also get the new behavior in Python 2 by putting from __future__ import division at the top of your files. I strongly recommend it!)
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Python documentation
docs.python.org › 3 › tutorial › introduction.html
3. An Informal Introduction to Python — Python 3.14.3 documentation
In the Python shell, the string definition and output string can look different. The print() function produces a more readable output, by omitting the enclosing quotes and by printing escaped and special characters: >>> s = 'First line.\nSecond line.' # \n means newline >>> s # without print(), special characters are included in the string 'First line.\nSecond line.'
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › python › python_operators.asp
Python Operators
Python Functions Python Arguments Python *args / **kwargs Python Scope Python Decorators Python Lambda Python Recursion Python Generators Code Challenge Python Range ... Matplotlib Intro Matplotlib Get Started Matplotlib Pyplot Matplotlib Plotting Matplotlib Markers Matplotlib Line Matplotlib Labels Matplotlib Grid Matplotlib Subplot Matplotlib Scatter Matplotlib Bars Matplotlib Histograms Matplotlib Pie Charts · Getting Started Mean Median Mode Standard Deviation Percentile Data Distribution Normal Data Distribution Scatter Plot Linear Regression Polynomial Regression Multiple Regression Scale Train/Test Decision Tree Confusion Matrix Hierarchical Clustering Logistic Regression Grid Search Categorical Data K-means Bootstrap Aggregation Cross Validation AUC - ROC Curve K-nearest neighbors
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › python › ref_stat_mean.asp
Python statistics.mean() Method
# Import statistics Library import statistics # Calculate average values print(statistics.mean([1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13])) print(statistics.mean([1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11])) print(statistics.mean([-11, 5.5, -3.4, 7.1, -9, 22])) Try it Yourself »
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Sololearn
sololearn.com › en › Discuss › 3172928 › what-does-means-in-python
WHAT DOES ** MEANS IN PYTHON? | Sololearn: Learn to code for FREE!
es el operador de potencia: por ejemplo 2**2 = 4 2**3 = 8 2**4 = 16 2**8 = 256 inténtalo con esto: print(2**2) ... When we take for example, 1000 is the answer and print the way of operators Then,10*10*10 =10** When we have to print it in times ...
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-statistics-mean-function
statistics.mean() function | Python - GeeksforGeeks
April 13, 2018 - Return Value: Returns the arithmetic mean of the given data. Example 1: This example finds the average marks of students stored in a list.
Find elsewhere
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-operators
Python Operators - GeeksforGeeks
Python Arithmetic operators are used to perform basic mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In Python 3.x the result of division is a floating-point while in Python 2.x division of 2 integers was an integer.
Published   December 2, 2025
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnpython › what do () and [] and . mean in python?
r/learnpython on Reddit: What do () and [] and . Mean in python?
January 29, 2021 -

For example Print("hello world") Why do i put in the "()" Why doesnt a simple print hello world work? Whats the logic behind using the () What does it tell the compiler about the code?

Similarly. List[2] and append.list

How does the compiler see those instructions as?

Sorry if this question sounds noobish. I AM a noob

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In short, () means you’re calling a function that does something, [] means you’re grabbing something out of a sequence, and . means you’re accessing an attribute (which could be data, a function, etc.) attached to an object.
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The short answer (this is a really good question, BTW) is that these are operators. That is, they're special symbols - like + or ~ - that tell the interpreter to perform some operation. To do something. The way that a statement like 2 + 2 is turned into the value 4 is called evaluation, and Python is trying to evaluate the lines of code you write, unless they're special statements (usually related to the flow of control through your program.) The () calling operator is an operator that means "the preceding value is a callable function; call it and evaluate to its return value." So in the same way that 2 + 2 reduces or simplifies to 4, print("hw") reduces or evaluates to that function's return value (which, for print, is None.) As a side effect, print also writes its argument to the console. That's actually the useful part, of course. Operators can come at different parts of the expression and we classify them with names related to that. + is an infix operator, because it appears in between its operands (the numbers it's going to add.) . is also an infix operator, because it appears between the name being looked up (on the right) and the namespace that name is being looked up in (on the left.) () comes at the end of the expression, so it's a postfix operator, and an operator like ~ or not comes before its operand, so we call it a prefix operator.
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Python
docs.python.org › 3 › genindex-Symbols.html
Index — Python 3.14.3 documentation
© Copyright 2001 Python Software Foundation. This page is licensed under the Python Software Foundation License Version 2. Examples, recipes, and other code in the documentation are additionally licensed under the Zero Clause BSD License. See History and License for more information.
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NumPy
numpy.org › devdocs › reference › generated › numpy.mean.html
numpy.mean — NumPy v2.5.dev0 Manual
Compute the arithmetic mean along the specified axis. Returns the average of the array elements. The average is taken over the flattened array by default, otherwise over the specified axis. float64 intermediate and return values are used for integer inputs.
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Codecademy
codecademy.com › docs › python:numpy › built-in functions › .mean()
Python:NumPy | Built-in Functions | .mean() | Codecademy
June 13, 2025 - In this example, a 1D array with values from 0 to 7 is created, and the arithmetic mean is calculated, which is 3.5 (the sum of all elements divided by the number of elements).
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Python.org
discuss.python.org › python help
What does ${} mean in python code - Python Help - Discussions on Python.org
September 29, 2024 - Hello everyone, I am new here and also new to learning python. I came across this code in databricks notebook and trying to understand what that means. I searched up for ${} in python but it doesn’t seem relevant to the …
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TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › what-does-mean-in-python
What does '//' mean in python?
In Python, math.floor(), like the double slash // operator, rounds down a number to the nearest integer.
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Real Python
realpython.com › what-does-arrow-mean-in-python
What Does -> Mean in Python Function Definitions? – Real Python
June 20, 2025 - To address this, Python 3.5 introduced optional type hints, which allow developers to specify return types. To add a type hint, you place a -> after a function’s parameter list and write the expected return type before the colon. You can also add type hints to function parameters. To do this, place a colon after the parameter’s name, followed by the expected type—for example, int or str.