Performing mathematical operations and calculations is a common task in programming languages. In JavaScript, there are several operators available to work with numbers.
Addition (+)
The addition operator (+
) is used to add two numbers together. It can also be used for string concatenation.
const three = 1 + 2
const four = three + 1
const three = 1 + 2
three + 1 // 4
'three' + 1 // "three1"
Subtraction (-)
The subtraction operator (-
) is used to subtract one number from another.
const two = 4 - 2
Division (/)
The division operator (/
) is used to divide one number by another. It returns the quotient of the division.
const result = 20 / 5 //result === 4
const result = 20 / 7 //result === 2.857142857142857
If you attempt to divide by zero, JavaScript does not raise an error but returns the value Infinity
(or -Infinity
if the value is negative).
1 / 0 // Infinity
1 / 0 // -Infinity
Remainder (%)
The remainder operator (%
) returns the remainder after dividing one number by another.
const result = 20 % 5 //result === 0
const result = 20 % 7 //result === 6
If you attempt to divide by zero, the result will always be NaN
(Not a Number).
(1 % 0) // NaN
(1 % 0) // NaN
Multiplication (*)
The multiplication operator (*
) is used to multiply two numbers together.
1 * 2 // 2
1 * -2 // -2
Exponentiation (**)
The exponentiation operator (**
) is used to raise a number to the power of another number.
1 ** 2 // 1
2 ** 1 // 2
2 ** 2 // 4
2 ** 8 // 256
8 ** 2 // 64
The exponentiation operator **
is equivalent to using the Math.pow()
function.
Math.pow(4, 2) == 4 ** 2
Increment (++)
The increment operator (++
) is used to increase the value of a number. It can be used as a prefix (++x) or a postfix (x++).
let x = 0
x++ // 0
x // 1
++x // 2
Decrement (–)
The decrement operator (--
) is used to decrease the value of a number. It can be used as a prefix (–x) or a postfix (x–).
let x = 0
x-- // 0
x // -1
--x // -2
Unary Negation (-)
The unary negation operator (-
) returns the negation of the operand.
let x = 2 - x // -2
x // 2
Unary Plus (+)
The unary plus operator (+
) tries to convert the operand to a number. If the operand is already a number, it does nothing.
let x = 2 + x // 2
x = '2' + x // "2"
x = '2a' + x // NaN
Tags: JavaScript, Arithmetic, Operators