Text vs Numbers: Types

Why "5" and 5 are not the same thing

8 min read · runnable Python

Every value in Python has a type â€” a kind. The two types you'll meet first are:

Text, called a string. Strings are always wrapped in quotes: "hello", "5", "Sam".
Whole numbers, called integers (or int for short). These have no quotes: 5, 42, 0.

There are also numbers with a decimal point, like 3.14, called floats. We'll use those soon too.

Why the difference matters

The quotes change everything. Look carefully:

print(5 + 3)
print("5" + "3")

The first line shows 8 â€” real math, because 5 and 3 are numbers.

The second shows 53 â€” because "5" and "3" are text, and adding text just sticks it together end-to-end. That sticking-together is called joining (or concatenation, a fancy word you can forget).

Checking a type

You can ask Python what type something is with type:

print(type(5))
print(type("5"))

The first reports it's an int; the second reports it's a str (Python's short name for string).

Tip: If a value has quotes around it, it's text â€” even if it looks like a number. "100" is text; 100 is a number you can do math with.

Your turn

Run the code and watch how the same symbols behave differently for numbers and text.

Try it yourself

print(5 + 3)        # numbers: real math -> 8
print("5" + "3")    # text: joined together -> 53

print(type(5))      # int
print(type("5"))    # str

Output

Press “Run code” to see the result.

Quick check

Q1 What does "5" + "3" produce in Python?

Q2 Which of these is a number (integer), not text?

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