An operational amplifier, or op-amp, is a high gain differential amplifier with very high input impedance and very low output impedance. It has five ideal characteristics: infinite input impedance, zero output impedance, infinite open-loop gain, infinite bandwidth, and infinite slew rate. There are three main op-amp configurations - inverting, non-inverting, and summing. The inverting configuration inverts the output signal phase. The non-inverting configuration maintains the output signal phase. The summing amplifier combines multiple input voltages into a single output voltage proportional to the algebraic sum of the inputs.