Variables in programming are abstract local storages for values. In the previous section, you calculated a 5-year revenue. What if we need this exact same number in the future? Recalculating seems a bit irrational.

To refer to a specific value in the future, we need to use a particular name for the variable. Use the equality sign `=` for assigning value to a variable. For example, you can assign the value `2022` to the variable `year`, and then output it or perform any arithmetic operation using its name.

# Create a variable
year = 2020
# Output its value
print(year)
# Perform an addition
print(year + 10)

This is the ninth chapter of the course. Create a variable `chapter` with a value of `9`.

Python is an interpreted high-level, general-purpose programming language, which means it can be used in different spheres of human activity (unlike HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which are mainly used in web development). Python can be used in software developing, data science, back-end development, etc. In this mobile-friendly version of the course, you will meet with the main aspects of Python.

In the first section, you will be introduced to the very basics of Python - how to interact with Python, perform simple operations, and output results.

In the past section, you performed different operations with numbers. In this section, you will learn how to save values in computer memory and be able to use them in the future for any purpose.

During the last two sections, you mostly worked with numerical data. In the third section, you will learn how to work with textual data in Python (strings), how to manipulate such data, what methods can be applied to them, and so on.

What Is a Variable?