Python Modulus Giving String Formatting Errors

Question

I\'m trying to perform the modulus of a value in python, but I\'m getting errors as it\'s interpretting the modulus as a string formatting constant, from my knowledge. My in

Answer 1

As you can see from this code, the % operator has different meanings with strings than with numbers.

>>> 1 % 2
1
>>> '1' % 2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in 
TypeError: not all arguments converted during string formatting

My guess is that y1 is actually a string. Here's the difference the type of y1 makes:

>>> val = 10
>>> y1 = '2'
>>> val * y1
'2222222222'
>>> y1 = 2
>>> val * y1
20