We will be working in Python, which is a (dynamically) typed programming language. This means that values have a type associated with them. For example, the variable instructor has the value "Audrey St. John" which we might view as a sequence of letters or characters; in Python, this is called the type string. On the other hand, the variable capacity has a value 24 which we would view as a numeric type; since it is a whole number or integer, Python calls the type int. A variable like per_i can only take on one of two possible values (Yes/No); this type is called boolean.
Why might this be advantageous? The type of a variable gives us some idea of how to interact with it. Each type supports specific operators; an operator takes one or two values and computes a single new value. We will give a high-level overview of numeric types, the string type and the boolean type.
Next: Numeric Types