Write A Python Function To Make A Simple Calculator

Introduction:

A calculator is a device that is used to perform arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Calculators can be simple, such as those found on most cell phones, or they can be complex, such as those used by engineers and scientists.

Python is a programming language that can be used to create a variety of applications, including calculators. In this blog post, we will show you how to write a simple Python calculator function.

Prerequisites:

To follow along with this blog post, you will need to have a basic understanding of Python. If you are new to Python, there are many resources available online to help you get started.

Writing the calculator function:

The first step in writing a Python calculator function is to define the function. We can do this using the def keyword. For example, the following code defines a function called add(), which takes two numbers as input and returns their sum:

Python

def add(a, b):
  """Returns the sum of two numbers.

  Args:
    a: The first number.
    b: The second number.

  Returns:
    The sum of a and b.
  """
  return a + b

We can then use the add() function to perform addition operations on any two numbers. For example, the following code prints the sum of 1 and 2:

Python

print(add(1, 2))

Output:

" 3 "

We can also define functions for other arithmetic operations, such as subtraction, multiplication, and division. The following code shows examples of these functions:

Python

def subtract(a, b):
  """Returns the difference of two numbers.

  Args:
    a: The first number.
    b: The second number.

  Returns:
    The difference of a and b.
  """
  return a - b

def multiply(a, b):
  """Returns the product of two numbers.

  Args:
    a: The first number.
    b: The second number.

  Returns:
    The product of a and b.
  """
  return a * b

def divide(a, b):
  """Returns the quotient of two numbers.

  Args:
    a: The first number.
    b: The second number.

  Returns:
    The quotient of a and b.
  """
  return a / b

Using the calculator functions:

We can use the calculator functions to perform arithmetic operations on any two numbers. For example, the following code prints the sum, difference, product, and quotient of 1 and 2:

Python

print(add(1, 2))
print(subtract(1, 2))
print(multiply(1, 2))
print(divide(1, 2))

Output:

3
-1
2
0.5

Conclusion:

In this blog post, we showed you how to write a simple Python calculator function. You can use this function to perform arithmetic operations on any two numbers. You can also use this function as a starting point to create more complex calculators, such as a scientific calculator or a financial calculator.

Expanding the calculator:

The calculator function that we wrote in the previous section is very basic. It can only perform the four basic arithmetic operations. However, we can expand the calculator to perform more complex operations, such as square root, exponential, and trigonometric functions.

To expand the calculator, we can define additional functions for these operations. For example, the following code shows a function for calculating the square root of a number:

Python

def sqrt(a):
  """Returns the square root of a number.

  Args:
    a: The number.

  Returns:
    The square root of a.
  """
  return a ** 0.5

We can then use the sqrt() function to calculate the square root of any number. For example, the following code prints the square root of 2:

Python

print(sqrt(2))

Output:

1.4142135623730951