ArithmeticError is the base class for exceptions that occur during arithmetic operations. Errors such as division by zero, floating-point overflow and floating-point underflow are derived from this exception class.

The following example raises a ZeroDivisionError, which is a subclass of ArithmeticError.

a = 10
b = 0
res = a / b

Output

ERROR!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<main.py>", line 3, in <module>
ZeroDivisionError: division by zero

Explanation:

• a / b attempts to divide 10 by 0.
• Division by zero is not allowed in Python.
• Python raises a ZeroDivisionError, which belongs to the ArithmeticError exception hierarchy.

Common Arithmetic-Related Errors

While working with mathematical operations, you may encounter errors caused by invalid calculations, incompatible operands, or floating-point limitations.

1. OverflowError: occurs when the result of a numeric operation exceeds the range that can be represented.

import math
res = math.exp(1000)
print(res)

Output

ERROR!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<main.py>", line 2, in <module>
OverflowError: math range error

Explanation: math.exp(1000) produces a value too large to be represented as a floating-point number.

2. FloatingPointError: occurs when floating-point operations fail and floating-point exception handling is enabled.

import numpy as np

np.seterr(all='raise')

try:
    np.divide(1.0, 0.0)
except FloatingPointError:
    print("Floating-point error occurred")

Floating-point error occurred

Explanation: With np.seterr(all='raise'), NumPy raises a FloatingPointError instead of returning special values such as inf.

Errors Often Confused with ArithmeticError

The following errors may occur during calculations, but they are not subclasses of ArithmeticError.

1. ValueError: occurs when a function receives a valid data type but an invalid value.

num = int("abc")

Output

ERROR!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<main.py>", line 1, in <module>
ValueError: invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'abc'

Explanation: int() can convert strings containing numbers, but "abc" is not a valid numeric value.

2. TypeError: occurs when an operation is performed on incompatible data types.

a = "10"
b = 5
res = a + b

Output

ERROR!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<main.py>", line 3, in <module>
TypeError: can only concatenate str (not "int") to str

Explanation: Python cannot add a string ("10") and an integer (5) directly.