Why is fractional part not discarded in python in some cases

Question

In python
3//2 evaluates to 1, in this case, the fractional part is discarded
while 1.2//1 evaluates to 1.0

Answer 1

The // operator performs floor division and will return the largest multiple of the divisor that is les than or equal to the dividend.

E.g. 3 // 2 will return 1 because 3 divided by 2 is 1.5 and the fractional part is cut off.

On the other hand 1.2 // 1 will return 1.0 because 1.2 divided by 1 is 1.2, and the result is not an integer. In this case the // operator would return a float number with the fractional part preserved.

Note: the // operator has different behavior depending on the types of the operands. If both operands are integers, the result is an integer. If one operand is a floating-point number, the result is a floating-point number.

E.g.

>>> 3.0 // 2
1.0
>>> 3 // 2.0
1.0
>>> 4 // 2.0
2.0
>>> 4 // 2
2