It’s the modulus operator, as mentioned, which returns the remainder of a division operation.
Examples: 3%5 returns 3, as 3 divided by 5 is 0 with a remainder of 3.
5 % 10 returns 5, for the same reason, 10 goes into 5 zero times with a remainder of 5.
10 % 5 returns 0, as 10 divided by 5 goes exactly 2 times with no remainder.
In the example you posted, (3 - 2 + 7) works out to 8, giving you 8 % 7, so $number will be 1, which is the remainder of 8/7.