Overview

This chapter and the next explore basic mathematics. It is necessary to cover this ground to prepare for topics presented later in the book. As it is, many people come up against problems in more advanced settings because they do not understand or have forgotten basic concepts. Without the basics, it is sometimes possible to find workaround strategies or use techniques that have been learned by rote, but in the end, understanding how things work ensures that you will be able to continue indefinitely.

This chapter examines the essentials of arithmetic, working with what in most computer languages are data types identified as integers and floats. While working with these data types does not cover the whole of arithmetic, it does provide pointers on a few topics that are often troublesome.