When objects of different modes are used, the object of a lower mode is coerced into mode of the higher object. For example 2*FALSE+TRUE+3i is evaluated to be the complex number 1+3i since FALSE is coerced to 0 and TRUE to 1 and then to a complex number.
As another example, paste("Ian McLeod", 25) returns the string "Ian McLeod 25".
For the ordering of modes, see data modes.