numeric types this begins our in-depth tour of the python language in pythondata takes the form of objects--either built-in objects that python providesor objects we create using python tools and other languages such as in factobjects are the basis of every python program you will ever write because they are the most fundamental notion in python programmingobjects are also our first focus in this book in the preceding we took quick pass over python' core object types although essential terms were introduced in that we avoided covering too many specifics in the interest of space herewe'll begin more careful second look at data type conceptsto fill in details we glossed over earlier let' get started by exploring our first data type categorypython' numeric types and operations numeric type basics most of python' number types are fairly typical and will probably seem familiar if you've used almost any other programming language in the past they can be used to keep track of your bank balancethe distance to marsthe number of visitors to your websiteand just about any other numeric quantity in pythonnumbers are not really single object typebut category of similar types python supports the usual numeric types (integers and floating points)as well as literals for creating numbers and expressions for processing them in additionpython provides more advanced numeric programming support and objects for more advanced work complete inventory of python' numeric toolbox includesinteger and floating-point objects complex number objects decimalfixed-precision objects fractionrational number objects setscollections with numeric operations