Increasing floating point precision in Python [duplicate]

Answer 1

Python's float type maps to whatever your platform's C compiler calls a double (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_floating_point_number).

The Python standard library also comes with an arbitrary-precision decimal module, called decimal: http://docs.python.org/2/library/decimal.html

Answer 2

Try using Decimal.

Read Arbitrary-precision elementary mathematical functions (Python)^original for more information

Answer 3

With Python's float, you get 15–17 digits of precision (if you are seeing fewer, you may need to use a different format specifier when printing).

If you need more, you'll need to use a different method (one that only uses integer arithmetic), or a different way to represent floating-point numbers.

See Python floating point arbitrary precision available?

Answer 4

The Leibniz formula converges extremely slowly - honestly, you won't live long enough for it get 12 digits of accuracy. Click here for one way to accelerate it enormously.