Convert float to double without losing precision

Steve_Armstrong_28038 0
Viewed 274724

I have a primitive float and I need as a primitive double. Simply casting the float to double gives me weird extra precision. For example:

float temp = 14009.35F;
System.out.println(Float.toString(temp)); // Prints 14009.35
System.out.println(Double.toString((double)temp)); // Prints 14009.349609375

However, if instead of casting, I output the float as a string, and parse the string as a double, I get what I want:

System.out.println(Double.toString(Double.parseDouble(Float.toString(temp))));
// Prints 14009.35

Is there a better way than to go to String and back?

floating-point double java
11 Answers

It's not that you're actually getting extra precision - it's that the float didn't accurately represent the number you were aiming for originally. The double is representing the original float accurately; toString is showing the "extra" data which was already present.

For example (and these numbers aren't right, I'm just making things up) suppose you had:

float f = 0.1F;
double d = f;

Then the value of f might be exactly 0.100000234523. d will have exactly the same value, but when you convert it to a string it will "trust" that it's accurate to a higher precision, so won't round off as early, and you'll see the "extra digits" which were already there, but hidden from you.

When you convert to a string and back, you're ending up with a double value which is closer to the string value than the original float was - but that's only good if you really believe that the string value is what you really wanted.

Are you sure that float/double are the appropriate types to use here instead of BigDecimal? If you're trying to use numbers which have precise decimal values (e.g. money), then BigDecimal is a more appropriate type IMO.

user_226560

This is due the contract of Float.toString(float), which says in part:

How many digits must be printed for the fractional part […]? There must be at least one digit to represent the fractional part, and beyond that as many, but only as many, more digits as are needed to uniquely distinguish the argument value from adjacent values of type float. That is, suppose that x is the exact mathematical value represented by the decimal representation produced by this method for a finite nonzero argument f. Then f must be the float value nearest to x; or, if two float values are equally close to x, then f must be one of them and the least significant bit of the significand of f must be 0.

erickson_34740

Use a BigDecimal instead of float/double. There are a lot of numbers which can't be represented as binary floating point (for example, 0.1). So you either must always round the result to a known precision or use BigDecimal.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point for more information.

Aaron_Digulla_340880

Floats, by nature, are imprecise and always have neat rounding "issues". If precision is important then you might consider refactoring your application to use Decimal or BigDecimal.

Yes, floats are computationally faster than decimals because of the on processor support. However, do you want fast or accurate?

Chris_Lively_24240

A simple solution that works well, is to parse the double from the string representation of the float:

double val = Double.valueOf(String.valueOf(yourFloat));

Not super efficient, but it works!

user_26395150

For information this comes under Item 48 - Avoid float and double when exact values are required, of Effective Java 2nd edition by Joshua Bloch. This book is jam packed with good stuff and definitely worth a look.

user_910120

There is a way to convert Float value into Double without adding the extra precision

Float aFloat= new Float(0.11);
String s = aFloat.toString();
Double aDouble = Double.parseDouble(s);

This Approach will not add an extra precisions to your Float value while converting. The only Problem with this approach is memory usage of the JVM by creating an extra tamp String object.

When calling an toString() (aDouble.toString()) on Double will never add an extra precisions. The precisions will be added while type conversion.

user_194279030
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