How to add two numbers in Python

Let’s see how two perform a very common and simple task when learning a programming language: adding two numbers.

In python the code for adding two numbers is very straightfoward.

Adding numbers directly

first_number = 32
second_number = 8

total = first_number + second_number

print(total)
#output: 40

In this example above I’m declaring two variables, first_number and second_number, each with a number assigned to them, both int types in this case.

Then I use the + sign to perform the sum and assign the result to the total variable.

Finally, the code uses the print() method to display the total.

The example below is very similar to the one before, the only difference is that I’m using float types here.

first_number = 31.4
second_number = 7.6

total = first_number + second_number

print(total)
#output: 39

Adding using the input from the user

This last example uses the input() builtin function to capture the input from the user.

Notice that the input is always captured as string, so you have to typecast the values to correctly add them.

In this case, I’m using int() to typecast the input to int.

first_number = input('Enter the first value: ')
second_number = input('Enter the second value: ')

total = int(first_number) + int(second_number)

print(total)

Here is an example of an interaction with the program running.

Enter the first value: 32
Enter the seconde value: 10
42

If you want to learn more about type casting, python data types and taking user inputs, I recommend these other posts: