Python float to int conversion

Question

Basically, I'm converting a float to an int, but I don't always have the expected value.

Here's the code I'm executing:

x = 2.51

print("--------- 251.0")
y = 251.0
print(y)
print(int(y))

print("--------- 2.51 * 100")
y = x * 100
print(y)
print(int(y))

print("--------- 2.51 * 1000 / 10")
y = x * 1000 / 10
print(y)
print(int(y))

print("--------- 2.51 * 100 * 10 / 10")
y = x * 100 * 10 / 10
print(y)
print(int(y))

x = 4.02
print("--------- 402.0")
y = 402.0
print(y)
print(int(y))

print("--------- 4.02 * 100")
y = x * 100
print(y)
print(int(y))

print("--------- 4.02 * 1000 / 10")
y = x * 1000 / 10
print(y)
print(int(y))

print("--------- 4.02 * 100 * 10 / 10")
y = x * 100 * 10 / 10
print(y)
print(int(y))

And here's the result (first value is the result of the operation, second value is int() of the same operation):

--------- 251.0
251.0
251
--------- 2.51 * 100
251.0
250
--------- 2.51 * 1000 / 10
251.0
251
--------- 2.51 * 100 * 10 / 10
251.0
250
--------- 402.0
402.0
402
--------- 4.02 * 100
402.0
401
--------- 4.02 * 1000 / 10
402.0
401
--------- 4.02 * 100 * 10 / 10
402.0
401

2.51 and 4.02 are the only values that lead to that strange behaviour on the 2.50 -> 5.00 range. Every other two digits value in that range converts to int without any problem when given the same operations.

So, what am I missing that leads to those results? I'm using Python 2.7.2 by the way.

user_3081198 · Answer

int converts by truncation, as has been mentioned by others. This can result in the answer being one different than expected. One way around this is to check if the result is 'close enough' to an integer and adjust accordingly, otherwise the usual conversion. This is assuming you don't get too much roundoff and calculation error, which is a separate issue. For example:

def toint(f):
    trunc = int(f)
    diff = f - trunc

    # trunc is one too low
    if abs(f - trunc - 1) < 0.00001:
        return trunc + 1
    # trunc is one too high
    if abs(f - trunc + 1) < 0.00001:
        return trunc - 1
    # trunc is the right value
    return trunc

This function will adjust for off-by-one errors for near integers. The mpmath library does something similar for floating point numbers that are close to integers.

user_18371972 · Answer

To convert to int you should use the int() function:

def myFunction(x, y):
    return int(x / y)

However if x / y is something like 2.8, int() will remove the decimal and convert it to 2. For this you should use the round() function before using int() which looks like this:

def myFunction(x, y):
    return int(round(x / y))

Python float to int conversion

6 Answers