What are multiple return values in Go and why are they useful?

Go functions can return multiple values natively: func divide(a, b float64) (float64, error). This is the idiomatic way to return both a result and an error without needing out-parameters, wrapper types, or exceptions. It makes error handling explicit at each call site. Named return values are also supported: func stats() (min, max int), which can improve documentation clarity. Multiple returns are also used in map lookups (val, ok := m[key]) and type assertions (v, ok := x.(Type)).