# Problem with display of float types **URL:** \ **Category:** rubyonrails-talk\ **Created:** [October 4, 2007, 7:03am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865 "2007-10-04T07:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![charles.poulsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@charles.poulsen](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/charles.poulsen)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 7:03am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/1 "2007-10-04T07:03:56Z")
Hello all, I am taking some values from mysql columns of type float (16, 2) , performing a calculation such as multiply or divide, before displaying on screen, and then displaying on a screen. Unfortunately, sometimes the value has many decimal places displayed! (Eg 136.5325325) Is there a way I can limit it to only display 2 decimal places? Thanks, Charles ---
**Author:** ![myst\_tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@myst\_tt](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/myst_tt)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 7:45am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/2 "2007-10-04T07:45:33Z")
hi,     if you only wanna display it precisely as you wish, use "printf" Br ---
**Author:** ![charles.poulsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@charles.poulsen](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/charles.poulsen)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 7:57am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/3 "2007-10-04T07:57:31Z")
Think theres a bit missing off the end? Can I use printf inside a rhtml? Charles ---
**Author:** ![rab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/rab/32/710_2.png) [@rab](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/rab)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/4 "2007-10-04T13:52:59Z")
> Think theres a bit missing off the end? > > Can I use printf inside a rhtml? > > Charles Of course you can, it's just Ruby. If you want to stay with a Rails solution, try number\_with\_precision(136.5325325, 2) (and then look at the source for that method and you won't need the method anymore) -Rob ---
**Author:** ![skaufman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@skaufman](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/skaufman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/5 "2007-10-04T18:22:44Z")
number\_with\_precision doesn't round correctly, though. From the source:       # Formats a +number+ with the specified level of +precision+ (e.g., 112.32 has a precision of 2). The default       # level of precision is 3. ---
**Author:** ![rab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/rab/32/710_2.png) [@rab](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/rab)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/6 "2007-10-04T20:18:50Z")
> > Of course you can, it's just Ruby. If you want to stay with a Rails solution, try number\_with\_precision(136.5325325, 2) (and then look at the source for that method and you won't need the method anymore) > > number\_with\_precision doesn't round correctly, though. From the source: > >       # Formats a +number+ with the specified level of +precision+ (e.g., 112.32 has a precision of 2). The default       # level of precision is 3.       #       # ==== Examples       # number\_with\_precision(111.2345) # =\> 111.235       # number\_with\_precision(111.2345, 2) # =\> 111.24       # number\_with\_precision(13, 5) # =\> 13.00000       # number\_with\_precision(389.32314, 0) # =\> 389       def number\_with\_precision(number, precision=3)         "%01.#{precision}f" % number       rescue         number       end > > 111.2345 to two decimal places should be 111.23, not 111.24. The doc is wrong -- probably written by a human 😉 $ script/console Loading development environment. \>\> helper.number\_with\_precision(111.2345, 2) =\> "111.23" I suspect the aforementioned human applied the precision=2 to the result of the precision=3 shown just above it rather than the original 111.2345 argument. -Rob Rob Biedenharn [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com) Rob@AgileConsultingLLC.com ---
**Author:** ![charles.poulsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@charles.poulsen](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/charles.poulsen)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/problem-with-display-of-float-types/18865/7 "2007-10-05T08:26:27Z")
Thanks guys, number\_with\_precision does the job for me.