How do I convert a variable to float?

Question

numbers = []

while(True):
    num = input("Enter a number or press Enter to stop :")
    if num:
        numbers.append(int(num))
    elif(num == ''):
            break
sum_num =0
for num in numbers:
    sum_num += num
avg = sum_num / len(numbers)
print("The sum is",sum_num)
print("The average is", avg)

The average is in decimal format, however, the sum is not.

The sum is 6
The average is 2.0

Welcome to SO! Have you tried `print(float(sum_num))`? `/` converts `avg` to decimal but if you're summing ints, you're guaranteed an int. Why would you want that to be a decimal? — ggorlen, Sep 13 '21 at 02:41
Does this answer your question? [How do I parse a string to a float or int?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/379906/how-do-i-parse-a-string-to-a-float-or-int) — PCM, Sep 13 '21 at 03:04

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 13 '21 at 03:14

1

Just make sum_num a float in the beginning already, use:

sum_num = 0.0

Then appending integers to a float will still retain the float format.

Example:

>>> sum_num = 0.0
>>> sum_num += 1
>>> sum_num
1.0
>>>

Or you could use:

print("The sum is", float(sum_num))

edited Sep 13 '21 at 03:14

PCM

2,881
2
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30

answered Sep 13 '21 at 02:40

U13-Forward

69,221
14
89
114

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 13 '21 at 02:43

0

On your code, int(num) returns interger value. Therefore, change the code

    if num:
    numbers.append(int(num))

to

if num:
    numbers.append(float(num))

answered Sep 13 '21 at 02:43

Peacepieceonepiece

671
7
21

How do I convert a variable to float?

2 Answers2