selinap.com

A division of 7/3 in Python will gives a result of 2. However, this is not correct. Since Python always assume that the numbers are whole numbers, the result will be truncated from 2.5 to 2.

A work around is to write one or both of the numbers as a decimal:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

>>> print 7/3.0  
2.5  
 
>>> print 7.0/3  
2.5  
 
>>> print 7.0/3.0  
2.5

In order to change this behaviour of Python, throughout the program execution, so that Python will always produce real numbers, a module division has to be imported.

1
2
3
4

>>> from __future__ import division   
 
>>> print 7/3  
2.5

Tags: decimal, division, Python, real numbers

If you liked this post, these other posts might also be interesting to you:

• Find max or min in Python dictionary
• Sort Python dictionary
• Generate Fibonacci numbers with Python
• Komodo Edit save and run python macro
• Executing Python Code Within Komodo Edit

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Python. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.