Question

I have two integers and trying to pass them to cout.

int a =1;
int b= 3;
cout<<a&b;

Compiler tells:

Error   2   error C2676: binary '&' : 'std::basic_ostream<_Elem,_Traits>' does not define this operator or a conversion to a type acceptable to the predefined operator

But a&b returns int that is understandable for ‘<<‘ operator.

Why this error rises?

Answer 1

Due to operators precedence, you need to use parenthesis:

cout << (a & b)

The << operator binds more tightly than &, so omitting the parenthesis makes the
compiler undertand it as (cout << a) & b, which explains the error report: The & operator can’t be used with a stream (the returned object from cout << a) and an int.