Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are your calculator buttons, letting MySQL add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers in a query.

In this page:

Addition Operator (+)
Subtraction Operator (-)
Multiplication Operator (*)
Division Operator (/)
Modulo Operator (%)

Syntax

sql

SELECT column1 + column2, column1 - column2,
       column1 * column2, column1 / column2, column1 % column2
FROM table_name;

Addition Operator (+)

The addition operator joins two numbers to find their total sum, such as combining a base price and a shipping fee. It is a fundamental operator in SQL math and works the same way inside SELECT, WHERE, or UPDATE expressions.

Example: Addition Operator (+)

sql

SELECT base_price + shipping_fee AS total FROM orders;

Subtraction Operator (-)

The subtraction operator deducts one number from another. You can use it to find the difference between two values, such as calculating days between a due date and today's date once combined with date functions.

Example: Subtraction Operator (-)

sql

SELECT price - discount AS final_price FROM orders;

Multiplication Operator (*)

The multiplication operator multiplies two numbers together. This is useful for scaling values or calculating totals, like multiplying unit price by quantity to get a line-item subtotal.

Example: Multiplication Operator (*)

sql

SELECT unit_price * quantity AS total FROM order_items;

Division Operator (/)

The division operator divides the first number by the second. It always returns a float result in MySQL, even when dividing two integers evenly, so remember to round or cast if you need a whole number.

Example: Division Operator (/)

sql

SELECT 10 / 4 AS result; -- always returns a float, even for exact division

Modulo Operator (%)

The modulo operator returns the remainder of a division. It is helpful for finding odd or even numbers, or for tasks like distributing rows evenly across a fixed number of buckets.

Example: Modulo Operator (%)

sql

SELECT id, id % 2 AS remainder FROM users; -- 0 = even, 1 = odd

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