 Hi everyone! I am glad to welcome you to this course. Here we will get acquainted with the branch operator, it is also called the conditional operator.

Let's clarify a bit:

We have some condition (more than one is possible, we will consider such an example a little later), if this condition is true, that is, it gives **True** value, then therefore we execute the instruction that we set in the if operator block, if our condition is false, (that is, it gives **False** value) , then we execute the code that goes beyond the boundaries of our conditional operator. Let's move on to an example.


```
Input:
price_of_apples = 15
if price_of_apples < 20:
    print('These apples are cheap.')
Output:
These apples are cheap.
```

**Analysis:** in this case we have the following condition `price_of_apples < 20`. In our case, `price_of_apples = 15`, and since `15 < 20`, the condition is **True**, so the code that is written in the `if` statement block is executed, and as a result we see `These apples are cheap.`
We got a little acquainted with the conditional operator, let's strengthen our knowledge with simple practice, and in the next chapter we will study the syntax of this construction in more details.

Here we get acquainted with the simplest representations of the conditional operator if. In addition, we get acquainted with the use of logical operators and the priorities for their use, after which we consolidate the knowledge of practice.

In this section, we are introduced to a more advanced form of the conditional operator - if-else. We will also learn what nested if-else statements are and practice on tasks.

At the end of the course, we will learn about the most advanced form of the conditional operator if-elif-else, get acquainted with the syntax of this construction and how it is applied correctly.