Best practice for representing floating infinity in python 3.x

Question

Since a very large floating value can be represented as follows: sys.float_info.max and float("inf").

Is one better than the other? If yes, under what circumstances?

Or which is one more preferred for scientific computing?

Answer 1

Definitely not the first:

>>> import sys
>>> sys.float_info.max
1.7976931348623157e+308

That's the largest finite float.

You're missing the preferred method ;-)

>>> import math
>>> math.inf
inf

Note also:

>>> math.nan
nan

Answer 2

This should indirectly tell you everything you need to know:

>>> float('inf') > sys.float_info.max
True
>>> float('inf') <= sys.float_info.max
False