How are arguments passed to functions classified by their types and characteristics?

Arguments of a function in Python can be classified by the method of passing and by type:

1. Positional arguments — passed in the order of parameter sequence.
2. Named arguments — passed with the parameter name, can be in any order.
3. Default arguments — have a specified value if not explicitly passed.
4. Variable number of positional arguments — collected into a tuple using *args.
5. Variable number of named arguments — collected into a dictionary using **kwargs.

Example:

def func(a, b=2, *args, **kwargs):
    print(a, b)
    print(args)
    print(kwargs)

func(1, 3, 4, 5, x=10, y=20)

Here, a is positional, b has a default, args are additional positional arguments, and kwargs are additional named arguments.