The Kitchen Scale (Simple Math)

Simple Math (Code as a Calculator) One of the most powerful and straightforward things you can do with code is math. At its core, a computer is just a very, very fast calculator. You can use standard arithmetic operators right in your code to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

The most common operators are:

• + (Addition)
• - (Subtraction)
• * (Multiplication)
• / (Division)

You can perform calculations directly or use variables that hold numbers.

# You can do math with numbers...
pizzas = 3
slices_per_pizza = 8
total_slices = pizzas * slices_per_pizza

print(total_slices) # This will display 24

# ...and with other variables
eaten_slices = 5
remaining_slices = total_slices - eaten_slices

print(remaining_slices) # This will display 19

// You can do math with numbers...
let pizzas = 3;
let slices_per_pizza = 8;
let totalSlices = pizzas * slices_per_pizza;

console.log(totalSlices); // This will display 24

// ...and with other variables
let eatenSlices = 5;
let remainingSlices = totalSlices - eatenSlices;

console.log(remainingSlices); // This will display 19

Just like in school, programming languages follow an order of operations (like PEMDAS/BODMAS), so multiplication and division happen before addition and subtraction.

Mini-Exercise 💡

• Try using it like simple calculator: (2+3)*60/5

• Imagine you're buying snacks.

  1. Create a variable for the price of a bag of chips, and another for the price of a soda.
  2. Create a variable for the number of bags of chips you want to buy, and another for the number of sodas.
  3. Calculate the total cost of the chips (price * quantity).
  4. Calculate the total cost of the sodas (price * quantity).
  5. Calculate the final total cost of all the snacks and print it to the screen.