Binary Operators - Overview


Definition

A binary operator on a set G is a function> mapping GxG->G. That is, a binary operator @ maps an ordered pair (g,h) (from GxG) to an element i of G. Often binary operators are written using infix notation, as in i=g@h.

Binary Operators

Order of precedence is important when evaluating arithmetic expressions. For example, the multiplicative operators bind more tightly than the additive operators, thus 3+4*5 groups as 3+(4*5)==23. The following list shows the categories of 'binary' operators in descending order of precedence (i.e. the higher up the list the tighter they bind).

The builtin unary operators are discussed in the sections titled prefix unary operators and postfix unary operators.