syntaxerror: “unexpected character after line continuation character in python” math

The division operator is /, not

The backslash is the line continuation character the error message is talking about, and after it, only newline characters/whitespace are allowed (before the next non-whitespace continues the “interrupted” line.

print "This is a very long string that doesn't fit" + 
      "on a single line"

Outside of a string, a backslash can only appear in this way. For division, you want a slash: /.

If you want to write a verbatim backslash in a string, escape it by doubling it: "\"

In your code, you’re using it twice:

 print("Length between sides: " + str((length*length)*2.6) +
       "  1.5 = " +                   # inside a string; treated as literal
       str(((length*length)*2.6)1.5)+ # outside a string, treated as line cont
                                       # character, but no newline follows -> Fail
       " Units")

The division operator is / rather than .

Also, the backslash has a special meaning inside a Python string. Either escape it with another backslash:

"\ 1.5 = "`

or use a raw string

r"  1.5 = "

You must press enter after continuation character

Note: Space after continuation character leads to error

cost = {"apples": [3.5, 2.4, 2.3], "bananas": [1.2, 1.8]}

0.9 * average(cost["apples"]) +  """enter here"""
0.1 * average(cost["bananas"])

Well, what do you try to do? If you want to use division, use “/” not “”. If it is something else, explain it in a bit more detail, please.

As the others already mentioned: the division operator is / rather than **. If you wanna print the ** character within a string you have to escape it:

print("foo \")
# will print: foo 

I think to print the string you wanted I think you gonna need this code:

print("Length between sides: " + str((length*length)*2.6) + " \ 1.5 = " + str(((length*length)*2.6)/1.5) + " Units")

And this one is a more readable version of the above (using the format method):

message = "Length between sides: {0} \ 1.5 = {1} Units"
val1 = (length * length) * 2.6
val2 = ((length * length) * 2.6) / 1.5
print(message.format(val1, val2))