What is the result of the following operation in Python: 5 // 2 ?

In Python, the // operator performs floor division, which divides two numbers and returns the largest integer less than or equal to the result. The expression 5 // 2 divides 5 by 2 and returns 2, discarding the remainder.

Floor division is particularly useful when you need to divide numbers and only want the integer part of the quotient, such as when calculating the number of items per container without counting the remainder.

result = 5 // 2  # result is 2

This operation is different from regular division (/), which would return a floating-point result. Understanding the difference between these operators is important for correctly implementing algorithms that require integer results.