Python, a powerful and versatile programming language, can be used for diverse applications which include scientific computations.
At times, these computations may result in numbers with a large number of decimal places which can impact readability or precision. This tutorial will guide you on how to print a certain number of decimal places in Python.
Step 1: Introduction to the round() function
The built-in round() function in Python can be utilized to format numbers to a certain number of decimal places. It takes two arguments: the number you want to round and the number of decimal places. The syntax is as follows:
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round(number, ndigits) |
For example:
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num = 15.45678 print(round(num, 2)) |
This code will output 15.46, rounding the number to two decimal places.
Step 2: Using formatted string literals (f-strings)
Python 3.6 introduced f-strings, also known as formatted string literals. This provides a concise and convenient way to embed expressions inside string literals for formatting. This technique can be used to determine the number of decimal places when printing a number. The syntax follows this pattern:
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f'{var:.nf}' |
Where var is the variable you want to format and n is the number of decimal places. Here is an example:
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num = 15.45678 print(f'{num:.2f}') |
This will output 15.46, the same as the round() function with two decimal places.
Step 3: Utilizing the format() function
The format() function in Python can also be used to format the number of decimal places. This method can be used for backward compatibility as the format() function was introduced in Python 2.6 before f-strings. The syntax is as follows:
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'{:.nf}'.format(var) |
Let’s see an example with the format method as well:
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num = 15.45678 print('{:.2f}'.format(num)) |
This will output 15.46, truncating the number to two decimal places.
Code:
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num = 15.45678 print(round(num, 2)) # using round() function num = 15.45678 print(f'{num:.2f}') # using f-strings num = 15.45678 print('{:.2f}'.format(num)) # using format() function |
Output:
15.46 15.46 15.46
Conclusion
Python provides multiple ways to print a certain number of decimal places, each with its own use case. This increases the flexibility and broadens the capabilities of the language, making it a crucial tool in any programmer’s arsenal.
We hope this tutorial explained clearly How to Print a Certain Number of Decimals Places in Python. With this knowledge, you can efficiently handle large numbers and maintain readability and accuracy in your computations.