Arithmetic, Relational & Boolean Operations (AQA GCSE Computer Science)

Revision Note

James Woodhouse

Expertise

Computer Science

Arithmetic, Relational & Boolean Operations

What is an operator?

  • An operator is a symbol used to instruct a computer to perform a specific operation on one or more values
  • Examples of common operators include:
    • Arithmetic
    • Relational
    • Boolean (AND, OR and NOT)

Arithmetic Operators

What are the arithmetic operators?

Operator Pseudocode Python
Addition + +
Subtraction - -
Multiplication * *
Division / /
Modulus (remainder after division) MOD %
Quotient (whole number division) DIV //
Exponentiation (to the power of) ^ **

  • To demonstrate the use of common arithmetic operators, three sample programs written in Python are given below
  • Comments have been included to help understand how the arithmetic operators are being used
    • Arithmetic operators #1 - a simple program to calculate if a user entered number is odd or even
    • Arithmetic operators #2 - a simple program to calculate the area of a circle from a user inputted radius
    • Arithmetic operators #3 - a simple program that generates 5 maths questions based on user inputs and gives a score of how many were correctly answered at the end
Python code

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Arithmetic operators #1
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Get the user to input a number
user_input = int(input("Enter a number: "))

# if the remainder of the number divided by 2 is 0, the number is even
if user_input % 2 == 0:
    print("The number is even.")
else:
    print("The number is odd.")

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Arithmetic operators #2
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Get the radius from the user
radius = float(input("Enter the radius of the circle: "))

# Calculate the area of the circle
area = 3.14159 * radius ** 2

# Display the calculated area
print("The area of the circle with radius",radius,"is",area)

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Arithmetic operators #3
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Set the score to 0
score = 0

# Loop 5 times
for x in range(5):
    num1 = int(input("Enter the first number: "))
    operator = input("Enter the operator (+, -, *): ")
    num2 = int(input("Enter the second number: "))
    user_answer = int(input("What is "+str(num1)+str(operator)+str(num2)+"? "))

# Check the answer and update the score
    if operator == '+':
        correct_answer = num1 + num2
    elif operator == '-':
        correct_answer = num1 - num2
    elif operator == '*':
        correct_answer = num1 * num2

    if user_answer == correct_answer:
        score = score + 1
    else:
      print("Sorry that's incorrect.")

print("Your score is:", score)

Relational & Boolean Operators

What are the relational operators?

Operator Pseudocode Python
Equal to == ==
Not equal to != !=
Less than < <
Less than or equal to <= <=
Greater than > >
Greater than or equal to >= >=

What are the boolean operators?

  • Boolean operators are
    • AND
    • OR
    • NOT
  • To demonstrate the use of common Relational and Boolean operators, three sample programs written in Python are given below
  • Comments have been included to help understand how the Boolean operators are being used
    • Common Boolean operators #1 - a simple program that assigns Boolean values to two variables and outputs basic comparisons
    • Common Boolean operators #2 - a simple program to output a grade based on a users score
    • Common Boolean operators #3 - a simple program reads a text files and searches for an inputted score
Python code

# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Common Boolean operators #1
# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Assign a Boolean value to a and b
a = True
b = False

# print the result of a and b
print("a and b:", a and b)
# print the result of a or b
print("a or b:", a or b)
# print the result of not a
print("not a:", not a)

# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Common Boolean operators #2
# -----------------------------------------------------------

# Take input for the score from the user
score = int(input("Enter the score: "))

# Compare the score and output the corresponding grade
if score >= 90 and score <= 100:
  print("Grade: A")
elif score >= 80 and score < 90:
  print("Grade: B")
elif score >= 70 and score < 80:
  print("Grade: C")
elif score < 70:
  print("Fail")

# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Common Boolean operators #3
# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Open the file for reading
file = open("scores.txt","r")
# Set flags to false
end_of_file = False
found = False
score = input("Enter a score: ")
# While it's not the end of the file and the score has not been found
while not end_of_file and not found:
  # read the line
  scores = file.readline().strip()
  # if the line equals the score
  if score == str(scores):
    found = True
    print("Score found")
  # if the line is empty
  if scores == "":
    end_of_file = True
    print("Score not found")
file.close()

Worked example

A cinema calculates ticket prices based on age category

  • Adult = £13.00
  • Child = £7.50

The program asks the user to enter their age and calculates the cost of their ticket

A simple algorithm is used

adult = 13.00

child = 7.50

age = input("What is your age: ")

if age > 18 then

total_cost = adult

else

toal_cost = child

end if

print(total_cost)

The cinema decides to add a discount of 25% to customers who come to the cinema on 'Sunday evening'

Identify all the additional inputs that will be required for this change to the algorithm [2]

How to answer this question

  • What new information is needed?

Answer

  • day
  • time

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James Woodhouse

Author: James Woodhouse

James graduated from the University of Sunderland with a degree in ICT and Computing education. He has over 14 years of experience both teaching and leading in Computer Science, specialising in teaching GCSE and A-level. James has held various leadership roles, including Head of Computer Science and coordinator positions for Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. James has a keen interest in networking security and technologies aimed at preventing security breaches.