Basic math operations in JavaScript

JavaScript supports all basic arithmetic operations. In this guide, we'll dive into them and see how do the regular +, -, *, and / perform on different data types.

Addition

You can use the binary operator + to add two numbers in JS. It’s called binary because it needs exactly two operands (numbers in our case) to perform the desired action.

const sum = 2 + 2;                          // 4

So, the result is exactly what you would expect here, but things change when we start using other data types. For example, if one of the operands is a string, then the other one will also be considered a string. Those two strings will be concatenated or "glued" together.

const numberPlusString = 2 + '2';            // 22
const booleanPlusString = true + 'Story';    // trueStory
const stringPlusString = 'just' + 'Strings'; // justStrings

You can also place a regular object, an array, or a function on any side of the + operator. In this case, they will be first converted to a string and then the addition will be done.

const f = () => {return 0};
const obj = {type: 'regular'};
const arr = [1, 2, 3];

console.log('Hello!' + f);                   // Hello!() => {return 0}
console.log(true + obj);                     // true[object Object]
console.log(1 + arr);                        // 11,2,3

Notice that most objects will be converted to strings as [object Object]. If you want to do something different, then you should implement a custom toString() function.

const obj = {
  type: 'regular', 
  toString: function () {
    return JSON.stringify(this);
    },
};

console.log(1 + obj);                         // 1{"type":"regular"}

Interesting things happen when either both operands are boolean or one of them is a boolean and another one is a number. In this case true will always be converted to 1 and false will become 0.

const truePlusTrue = true + true;             // 2
const truePlusFalse = true + false;           // 1
const booleanPlusNumber = true + 5;           // 6

Subtraction, multiplication, and division

Even though the rules for addition might seem quite complex, other basic operations follow common sense logic. With numbers, everything is as expected.

const subtractionResult = 10 - 2;              // 8
const multiplicationResult = 2 * 2;            // 4
const divisionResult = 10 / 2;                 // 5

Booleans are still converted to either 0 or 1 when on the other side is a boolean or a number.

console.log(true / true);                      // 1
console.log(5 * false);                        // 0
console.log(true - false);                     // 1

Infinity and -Infinity

If you try to divide something by 0 or false, then the result is either Infinity or -Infinity.

console.log(5 / 0);                             // Infinity
console.log(-5 / false);                        // -Infinity

NaN

In most other cases when it’s hard to make sense of the arithmetic expression, the result will be NaN or "not-a-number".

console.log(false / false);                     // NaN
console.log(10 / 'string');                     // NaN
console.log(5 * {});                            // NaN
console.log({} - [])                            // NaN

Empty Array

An empty array is converted either to an empty string or into 0 whenever possible.

console.log('str1' + [] + 'str2');               // str1str2
console.log(12 * []);                            // 0
console.log(5 - []);                             // 5
console.log(1 / []);                             // Infinity

Unary increment and decrement

Two very useful operators allow you to either increment or decrement the value of the variable by 1. They look like double plus ++ and double minus --.

let counter = 0;
counter++;
console.log(counter);                             // 1
counter--;
console.log(counter);                             // 0

The ++ and -- operators can be placed on either side of the variable. Both counter++ and ++counter expressions are valid. The difference can be represented by these examples:

let i = 0;
console.log(i++);                                 // 0
console.log(i);                                   // 1

So, first, we’ve taken the value of i, logged it into the screen, and then did the increment, which we see in the second console.log.

With ++i it’s the other way around.

let i = 0;
console.log(++i);                                  // 1
console.log(i);                                    // 1

To make sure you got this right, please answer the following question in the comments below.

let x = 1;
let y = 2;
let z = 3;

console.log(++x - y-- + z++);                       // ?

Conclusion

We’ve covered the basic arithmetic operations in JavaScript, their rules, and exceptions.

The +, -, *, / behave as expected with numbers, but with strings, objects, arrays, functions, and booleans it changes a lot.

Learning the fundamentals of JS (like math) is useful for any web developer.

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