How to make a calculator on Python

Build a calculator in Python using an example. Learn how to use basic operations and functions for efficient number crunching.

Creating a Calculator in Python

Making a calculator with Python is a great way to practice your programming skills and gain an understanding of basic concepts. Python is a versatile language that can be used for many different types of applications, and creating a calculator is a great project for beginners.

The first step in creating your calculator is to create a function that will take in two numbers and an operator. This function will then evaluate the expression and return the result. In this example, we will use the ‘+’ operator to add two numbers.

def calculate(num1, num2, operator):
	if operator == '+':
		return num1 + num2
	elif operator == '-':
		return num1 - num2
	elif operator == '*':
		return num1 * num2
	elif operator == '/':
		return num1 / num2
	else:
		return "Invalid Operator"

The next step is to create a function that will prompt the user for input. This function will take in three arguments: two numbers and an operator. It will then call the ‘calculate’ function with the user’s input and return the result.

def prompt_user():
	num1 = int(input("Enter the first number: "))
	num2 = int(input("Enter the second number: "))
	operator = input("Enter an operator (+, -, *, /): ")
	result = calculate(num1, num2, operator)
	print("The result is:", result)

Finally, we need to create a main function that will call the ‘prompt_user’ function. This will allow us to execute the program and use our calculator.

def main():
	prompt_user()

if __name__ == '__main__':
	main()

Now that we have our code written, we can run the program and use our calculator. When we run the program, the program will prompt us for two numbers and an operator. We can then enter our desired values and the program will calculate the result and print it out. We now have a simple calculator that we can use to practice our coding skills.