Merged revisions 79756 via svnmerge from
svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk
........
r79756 | mark.dickinson | 2010-04-04 23:09:21 +0100 (Sun, 04 Apr 2010) | 6 lines
Add versionchanged entry for Decimal(float) construction.
Also add an example of constructing a Decimal directly from a float,
update the quickstart tutorial, and tweak another couple of
sentences.
........
diff --git a/Doc/library/decimal.rst b/Doc/library/decimal.rst
index 7d96471..bec0a91 100644
--- a/Doc/library/decimal.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/decimal.rst
@@ -127,10 +127,9 @@
>>> getcontext().prec = 7 # Set a new precision
-Decimal instances can be constructed from integers, strings, or tuples. To
-create a Decimal from a :class:`float`, first convert it to a string. This
-serves as an explicit reminder of the details of the conversion (including
-representation error). Decimal numbers include special values such as
+Decimal instances can be constructed from integers, strings, floats, or tuples.
+Construction from an integer or a float performs an exact conversion of the
+value of that integer or float. Decimal numbers include special values such as
:const:`NaN` which stands for "Not a number", positive and negative
:const:`Infinity`, and :const:`-0`.
@@ -139,6 +138,8 @@
Decimal('10')
>>> Decimal('3.14')
Decimal('3.14')
+ >>> Decimal(3.14)
+ Decimal('3.140000000000000124344978758017532527446746826171875')
>>> Decimal((0, (3, 1, 4), -2))
Decimal('3.14')
>>> Decimal(str(2.0 ** 0.5))
@@ -336,8 +337,9 @@
If *value* is a :class:`float`, the binary floating point value is losslessly
converted to its exact decimal equivalent. This conversion can often require
- upto 53 digits of precision. For example, ``Decimal(float('1.1'))`` converts
- to ``Decimal('1.100000000000000088817841970012523233890533447265625')``.
+ 53 or more digits of precision. For example, ``Decimal(float('1.1'))``
+ converts to
+ ``Decimal('1.100000000000000088817841970012523233890533447265625')``.
The *context* precision does not affect how many digits are stored. That is
determined exclusively by the number of digits in *value*. For example,
@@ -351,6 +353,9 @@
Once constructed, :class:`Decimal` objects are immutable.
+ .. versionchanged:: 3.2
+ The argument to the constructor is now permitted to be a :float:`instance`.
+
Decimal floating point objects share many properties with the other built-in
numeric types such as :class:`float` and :class:`int`. All of the usual math
operations and special methods apply. Likewise, decimal objects can be
@@ -490,6 +495,9 @@
`0x1.999999999999ap-4`. That equivalent value in decimal is
`0.1000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625`.
+ .. note:: From Python 3.2 onwards, a :class:`Decimal` instance
+ can also be constructed directly from a :class:`float`.
+
.. doctest::
>>> Decimal.from_float(0.1)
@@ -1846,7 +1854,7 @@
Q. Is there a way to convert a regular float to a :class:`Decimal`?
-A. Yes, all binary floating point numbers can be exactly expressed as a
+A. Yes, any binary floating point number can be exactly expressed as a
Decimal though an exact conversion may take more precision than intuition would
suggest: