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I work daily with Python 2.4 at my company. I used the versatile logarithm function 'log' from the standard math library, and when I entered log(2**31, 2) it returned 31.000000000000004, which struck me as a bit odd.
I did the same thing with other powers of 2, and it worked perfectly. I ran 'log10(2**31) / log10(2)' and I got a round 31.0
I tried running the same original function in Python 3.0.1, assuming that it was fixed in a more advanced version.
Why does this happen? Is it possible that there are some inaccuracies in mathematical functions in Python?
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Definition and Usage log() method returns the natural logarithm of a number, or the logarithm of number to base.
Understanding the log() functions in Python We need to use the math module to access the log functions in the code. The math. log(x) function is used to calculate the natural logarithmic value i.e. log to the base e (Euler's number) which is about 2.71828, of the parameter value (numeric expression), passed to it.
Note that Python's log function calculates the natural log of a number.
This is to be expected with computer arithmetic. It is following particular rules, such as IEEE 754, that probably don't match the math you learned in school.
If this actually matters, use Python's decimal type.
Example:
from decimal import Decimal, Context
ctx = Context(prec=20)
two = Decimal(2)
ctx.divide(ctx.power(two, Decimal(31)).ln(ctx), two.ln(ctx))
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