The most common answer is:
Code Segment One – Data Type – Numbers
num_result = 24 + 24
print(num_result)
Code Segment Two – Data Type – Strings
Change both numbers to strings and run code
Change only one number to a string and run code. What happens?
string_result = str(24) + str(24)
print(string_result)
Let’s discuss and run the code segments as described, including the experiments with changing numbers to strings.
Code Segment One – Data Type – Numbers
This segment adds two numbers and prints the result.
num_result = 24 + 24
print(num_result)
Output: 48
In this case, the operation is an addition of two integers, resulting in 48
.
Code Segment Two – Data Type – Strings
Change both numbers to strings and run code.
This segment treats the numbers as strings and concatenates them.
string_result = str(24) + str(24)
print(string_result)
Output: 2424
Here, the str()
function converts the numbers to strings, and the +
operator concatenates these strings, resulting in "2424"
.
Change only one number to a string and run code
Let’s see what happens when only one of the numbers is converted to a string:
string_result_mixed = str(24) + 24
print(string_result_mixed)
This code will not run as intended and will result in a TypeError
because Python does not allow concatenation of strings and integers directly. You would need to convert the integer to a string explicitly to avoid this error:
string_result_mixed = str(24) + str(24) # Correct approach
print(string_result_mixed)
Or, if the intention is to add one number to another where one is already a string, you must convert the second number to a string as well, as shown above. The output would be the same as when both numbers are strings, "2424"
.
In summary, adding two integers results in numerical addition, while concatenating strings (even if they represent numbers) results in a combined string. Attempting to combine a string and a number directly will cause an error, highlighting the importance of being mindful of data types in Python.