3 Ways To Write Numbers In Python

Summary

The website content provides an overview of three methods for writing numbers in Python, including standard notation, the use of underscores for readability, and scientific notation for conciseness with large numbers.

Abstract

The article "3 Ways To Write Numbers In Python" discusses different numeric representations in Python code. It begins by stating the standard way of writing numbers by typing out all digits. It then introduces the use of underscores in numbers with more than one digit to enhance readability, especially for large numbers where it can be unclear how many zeros are involved. Lastly, the article covers scientific notation, which is particularly useful for very large numbers with multiple zeros, allowing developers to represent such numbers more succinctly using an 'e' or 'E' followed by an exponent. The author, Jacob Ferus, provides examples and images to illustrate these concepts and invites readers to explore more Python content through a provided reading list and a referral link for a Medium membership.

Opinions

The author, Jacob Ferus, suggests that using underscores in numbers can significantly improve readability, making it easier to distinguish between similar-looking numbers like 100 million and 1 billion.
The article implies that scientific notation is a preferred method for handling very large numbers in Python, as it simplifies the expression of such numbers and avoids the need to type out all the zeros.
The inclusion of visual examples and interactive gists is likely intended to enhance the reader's understanding and engagement with the content.
By offering a reading list and a referral link for a Medium membership, the author indicates a desire to provide additional value to the reader and potentially grow their audience on the platform.

Using underscores

Any number with more than one digit can include underscores between the digits (but not next to the decimal separator). This is useful to increase readability, e.g. is this 100 million or a billion? The previous numbers can be written:

More clear, isn’t it?

Scientific notation

With very large numbers, scientific notation can be useful to show how many digits are included without typing them out. This is especially true when there are many zeros. To do this an e or E followed by an integer can be used at the end of a number to multiply it by 10 to the power of the integer following e/E. For instance:

In Python:

If you’re interested in reading more articles about Python, check out my reading list below:

If you’d like to get a Medium membership you can use my referral link if you wish. Have a nice day.

One minute Python

3 Ways To Write Numbers In Python

The standard way

Using underscores

Scientific notation

Python