all Python 3Exceptionsexception

FloatingPointError

built-in exceptions

A floating-point operation failed; not raised by default in CPython but part of the hierarchy.

Syntax

raise FloatingPointError

In modern CPython this exception is essentially dead: the fpectl module that enabled it was removed in 3.7, and ordinary arithmetic never raises it. Real floating-point trouble arrives under other names — ZeroDivisionError for division by zero, OverflowError for a result too large, ValueError from math.sqrt(-1), while a NaN simply propagates silently. An except FloatingPointError branch in student code will never fire; test results with math.isnan() and math.isinf() instead.

Examples

try:
    raise FloatingPointError
except FloatingPointError as e:
    print(type(e).__name__)   # → FloatingPointError

See also

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