Functions assigned and reassigned to variables, and later referenced by those names: doubt

Question

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def multiply(x, y):
return x * y

a = 4
b = 7
operation = multiply
print(operation(a, b))
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The code above is an example given in the "Functions as objects" lesson.
My question is: what exactly is "operation"? Is it a variable? Is it a pointer? Did it duplicated the multiply function?
I know that I can treat it as a normal variable and do something like

operation = 22
print (operation)
>>>22
and as expected, print (operation(a, b)) no longer works.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

It is a variable that references the existing function.

Answer 2

Imo, in pythin, variables only contain pointers. For example,
>>>a = [1, 2]
>>>b = a
>>>a[0] = 3
>>>print(b)
[3, 2]
this happens. I think it looks like how pointer work in C.