This document provides an overview of operational amplifiers (op-amps). It discusses the ideal characteristics of an op-amp including infinite voltage gain, infinite input impedance, zero output impedance, and more. The document describes the internal stages of a typical op-amp like the input, intermediate, buffer, and output stages. It also discusses practical op-amp characteristics such as offset voltage, bandwidth, common mode rejection ratio, slew rate, and power supply rejection ratio which differ from the ideal characteristics. Finally, it shows the voltage transfer curve of an op-amp and provides an example of an inverting amplifier configuration.