How to Ensure Floating-Point Division in Python 2?

Floating Point Division in Python 2

In Python 2, division of two integers, such as a / b, results in an integer. This can be problematic when we need the result as a floating point number. To force the division to be floating point in Python 2, we can import from the future module.

Firstly, let's understand the problem: When dividing two integers a and b (where a < b), integer division in Python 2 truncates the result to an integer, discarding any decimal part. This means that we would always get 0 as the result, with a remainder of a.

To force the division to be floating point, we can use this Python 2 syntax:

from __future__ import division

Once this line is imported, the division operation will produce a floating point number, even when dividing two integers.

Let's illustrate this with an example:

a = 4
b = 6

c = a / b  # Without "from __future__ import division"
print(c)  # Output: 0

# Add the import statement
from __future__ import division

c = a / b  # Now with floating point division
print(c)  # Output: 0.6666666666666666

As you can see, without the from __future__ import division statement, the result is truncated to an integer (0). However, with the import, the division now produces a floating point result (0.6666666666666666).

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