What is the difference between '/' and '//' when used for division?

Question

Is there a benefit to using one over the other? In Python 2, they both seem to return the same results:

>>> 6/3
2
>>> 6//3
2

Answer 1

// implements "floor division", regardless of your type. So 1.0/2.0 will give 0.5, but both 1/2, 1//2 and 1.0//2.0 will give 0.

See https://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.2.html#pep-238-changing-the-division-operator for details