fractions — Rational Numbers¶

Creating Fraction Instances¶

As with the decimal module, new values can be created in several ways. One easy way is to create them from separate numerator and denominator values:

import fractions

for n, d in [(1, 2), (2, 4), (3, 6)]:
    f = fractions.Fraction(n, d)
    print('{}/{} = {}'.format(n, d, f))

The lowest common denominator is maintained as new values are computed.

$ python3 fractions_create_integers.py

1/2 = 1/2
2/4 = 1/2
3/6 = 1/2

Another way to create a Fraction is using a string representation of <numerator> / <denominator>:

import fractions

for s in ['1/2', '2/4', '3/6']:
    f = fractions.Fraction(s)
    print('{} = {}'.format(s, f))

The string is parsed to find the numerator and denominator values.

$ python3 fractions_create_strings.py

1/2 = 1/2
2/4 = 1/2
3/6 = 1/2

Strings can also use the more usual decimal or floating point notation of series of digits separated by a period. Any string that can be parsed by float() and that does not represent “not a number” (NaN) or an infinite value is supported.

import fractions

for s in ['0.5', '1.5', '2.0', '5e-1']:
    f = fractions.Fraction(s)
    print('{0:>4} = {1}'.format(s, f))

The numerator and denominator values represented by the floating point value is computed automatically.

$ python3 fractions_create_strings_floats.py

 0.5 = 1/2
 1.5 = 3/2
 2.0 = 2
5e-1 = 1/2

It is also possible to create Fraction instances directly from other representations of rational values, such as float or Decimal.

import fractions

for v in [0.1, 0.5, 1.5, 2.0]:
    print('{} = {}'.format(v, fractions.Fraction(v)))

Floating point values that cannot be expressed exactly may yield unexpected results.

$ python3 fractions_from_float.py

0.1 = 3602879701896397/36028797018963968
0.5 = 1/2
1.5 = 3/2
2.0 = 2

Using Decimal representations of the values gives the expected results.

import decimal
import fractions

values = [
    decimal.Decimal('0.1'),
    decimal.Decimal('0.5'),
    decimal.Decimal('1.5'),
    decimal.Decimal('2.0'),
]

for v in values:
    print('{} = {}'.format(v, fractions.Fraction(v)))

The internal implementation of Decimal does not suffer from the precision errors of the standard floating point representation.

$ python3 fractions_from_decimal.py

0.1 = 1/10
0.5 = 1/2
1.5 = 3/2
2.0 = 2

Arithmetic¶

Once the fractions are instantiated, they can be used in mathematical expressions.

import fractions

f1 = fractions.Fraction(1, 2)
f2 = fractions.Fraction(3, 4)

print('{} + {} = {}'.format(f1, f2, f1 + f2))
print('{} - {} = {}'.format(f1, f2, f1 - f2))
print('{} * {} = {}'.format(f1, f2, f1 * f2))
print('{} / {} = {}'.format(f1, f2, f1 / f2))

All of the standard operators are supported.

$ python3 fractions_arithmetic.py

1/2 + 3/4 = 5/4
1/2 - 3/4 = -1/4
1/2 * 3/4 = 3/8
1/2 / 3/4 = 2/3

Approximating Values¶

A useful feature of Fraction is the ability to convert a floating point number to an approximate rational value.

import fractions
import math

print('PI       =', math.pi)

f_pi = fractions.Fraction(str(math.pi))
print('No limit =', f_pi)

for i in [1, 6, 11, 60, 70, 90, 100]:
    limited = f_pi.limit_denominator(i)
    print('{0:8} = {1}'.format(i, limited))

The value of the fraction can be controlled by limiting the size of the denominator.

$ python3 fractions_limit_denominator.py

PI       = 3.141592653589793
No limit = 3141592653589793/1000000000000000
       1 = 3
       6 = 19/6
      11 = 22/7
      60 = 179/57
      70 = 201/64
      90 = 267/85
     100 = 311/99