Equality is commutative and assignment is not
mathematics: if a = 7, then 7 = a
Python: a = 7
is possible,
7 = a
is not possible (think of 7
<- a)
Equality is always true, assignment can change
mathematics: if a is equal to b, then b is always equal to a
Python: the value of a can change without the value of b being changed
a = 5 b = a # a is assigned to b (a and b are equal) a = 3 # 3 is assigned to a (a and b are no longer equal)