How to limit floats to two decimal points in Python? One solution to limit floats to two decimal points is to use the round() function, which rounds a number to a specified number of decimal points.
However, there are several other methods for limiting floats to two decimal points in Python, including string formatting, f-strings, and the Decimal module. In this article, we will explain all these methods with examples.
1. Quick Examples of Limiting Floats to Two Decimal Points
These are examples of different methods of limiting floats to two decimal points in Python. These examples should give you a high-level overview of each method and its syntax.
# Methods of limiting floats to two decimal points
# Method 1: Using the round() function
rounded_num = round(num, 2)
print(rounded_num)
# Method 2: Using string formatting
rounded_num = “{:.2f}”.format(num)
print(rounded_num)
# Method 3: Using f-strings
rounded_num = f”{num:.2f}”
print(rounded_num)
# Method 4: Using the format() function
rounded_num = format(num, “.2f”)
print(rounded_num)
2. round() – Round up Floats to Two Decimal Points
To limit a float to two decimal points use the Python round() function, you simply need to pass the float as the first argument and the value 2 as the second argument.
The round() function is used to round a number to a specified number of decimal points. By default, round() rounds to the nearest integer, but you can specify the number of decimal points by passing a second argument to the function.
See the following Example:
# Using round()
num = 3.141592653589793
rounded_num = round(num, 2)
print(rounded_num)
# Output: 3.14
The round() function uses the “Round Half to Even” rule, also known as “banker’s rounding”. If you round 2.5 to one decimal point using round(2.5, 1), the result will be 2.4, not 2.5.
This is because 2.5 is exactly halfway between 2.4 and 2.6, so round() rounds down to the nearest even number (2), rather than up to the nearest odd number (3).
Look at the following example to understand the “Round Half to Even”:
# round() examples
num1 = 2.5
num2 = 3.5
rounded_num1 = round(num1, 0)
rounded_num2 = round(num2, 0)
print(rounded_num1)
# output: 2.0
print(rounded_num2)
# output: 4.0
num1 is exactly halfway between 2 and 3, so round() rounds down to the nearest even number (2).
Similarly, num2 is exactly halfway between 3 and 4, so round() rounds up to the nearest even number (4).
3. String Formatting to Limit Float to Specific Points
Formatted String is an important feature of Python. We can use it to control the way numbers are displayed by specifying formatting options.
To limit a float to two decimal points using Python string formatting, you can use the format string {:.2f}, where the 2 specifies the number of decimal points to display and the f indicates that the argument should be formatted as a float.
# Using string formatting
formatted_num = “{:.2f}”.format(num)
print(formatted_num)
With String formatting, we can easily concatenate the number with a larger string. See the following example:
# String formatting examples
dollars = 1234567.89
formatted_dollars = “${:,.2f}”.format(dollars)
print(formatted_dollars)
# Output:
# $1,234,567.89
String formatting can also be achieved using the f-string syntax. To limit a float to two decimal points using f-strings, you can include the expression inside braces ({}) and use the format string :.2f.
formatted_num = f”{num:.2f}”
print(formatted_num)
# Output: 3.14
4. Decimal Module to Limit Float to 2 Decimal Points
Python’s built-in decimal module provides support for exact decimal arithmetic, which can be useful when working with financial or other numerical data that requires precise calculations.
To limit a float to two decimal points using the decimal module, you can create a Decimal object from the float and then use the quantize() method to round the value to the desired number of decimal places.
# Import decimal module
from decimal import Decimal
num = 3.141592653589793
decimal_num = Decimal(str(num))
rounded_num = decimal_num.quantize(Decimal(‘.01’))
print(rounded_num)
# Output: 3.14
You can specify different rounding modes (e.g., rounding up or down) or adjust the precision of the calculation to more than two decimal points if necessary.
from decimal import Decimal, ROUND_HALF_UP
dollars = 1234567.895
decimal_dollars = Decimal(str(dollars))
rounded_dollars = decimal_dollars.quantize(Decimal(‘.01’), rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
formatted_dollars = “${:,.2f}”.format(rounded_dollars)
print(formatted_dollars)
# Output: $1,234,567.90
5. Summary and Conclusion
We have explained multiple ways to limit floats to two decimal points in Python. You have learned the round() function, string formatting, f-strings, the Decimal module. I hope this article was helpful. Leave your queries in the comment section.
Happy Coding!
How to limit floats to two decimal points in Python? One solution to limit floats to two decimal points is to use the round() function, which rounds a number to a specified number of decimal points. However, there are several other methods for limiting floats to two decimal points in Python, including string formatting, f-strings, Read More Python, Python Tutorial, Python Type