Fractions in Python

Doing fractions or math using Python is not something new, but I was anxious to try it out because my kids have been learning fractions in school. So I wanted to be that super dad who can solve the fractions very quickly or at least I could use it to verify their homework.

Here are samples that you can copy and paste into your text editor and try out without needing to do any modifications. These examples are tested in Python 2.7.13 in Mac OS.

Here are some basic examples setting fractions and doing some basic operations. There is also exception handling for zero division:

__author__ = 'Almir Mustafic'


from fractions import Fraction


"""
Playing around with fractions
"""


def main():
    print("main program")

    set_fractions()
    fraction_operations()
    input_and_calculate_fractions()


def set_fractions():
    print("set_fractions method ..............")

    f1 = Fraction(3, 4)
    print(f1)

    f2 = Fraction(8, 4)
    print(f2)


def fraction_operations():
    print("fraction_operations method ............. ")

    fsum = Fraction(3, 4) + Fraction(6, 4)
    print(fsum)

    my_float = float(fsum)
    print(my_float)


def input_and_calculate_fractions():
    print("input_and_calculate_fractions method ..............")

    # Enter for example: 2/3
    # Try entering 2/0 to see how it tells you that it is invalid
    try:
        a = Fraction(raw_input("enter a fraction: "))
        print(a)
        print(float(a))
    except ZeroDivisionError:
        print("Invalid fraction")

################################################

if __name__ == "__main__": main()

Here is a more complete example that allows you to interact with it. You can perform add, subtract, multiply and divide.

__author__ = 'Almir Mustafic'


from fractions import Fraction


def main():
    print("main program")
    perform_fraction_operations()


def perform_fraction_operations():
    while True:

        try:
            print("========================================================")
            fraction01 = Fraction(raw_input('Enter fraction: '))
            fraction02 = Fraction(raw_input('Enter another fraction: '))

            my_operation = raw_input('Perform one the following operations: Add (A), Subtract (S), Divide (D), Multiply (M) : ')

            print("________________________________________________________")

            if my_operation.capitalize() == 'ADD' or my_operation.capitalize() == "A":
                add(fraction01, fraction02)
            if my_operation.capitalize() == 'SUBTRACT' or my_operation.capitalize() == "S":
                subtract(fraction01, fraction02)
            if my_operation.capitalize() == 'DIVIDE' or my_operation.capitalize() == "D":
                divide(fraction01, fraction02)
            if my_operation.capitalize() == 'MULTIPLY' or my_operation.capitalize() == "M":
                multiply(fraction01, fraction02)
        except ValueError:
            print('Invalid fraction entered')
        except ZeroDivisionError:
            print("Zero division fraction. Do NOT do this :)")

        print("========================================================")

        answer = raw_input('Do you want to exit? (yes) for yes or just press enter to continue: ')
        if answer == 'yes' or answer == 'y':
            break


def add(f1, f2):
    print('Result of adding {0} and {1} is {2} '.format(f1, f2, f1+f2))


def subtract(f1, f2):
    print('Result of subtracting {1} from {0} is {2}'.format(f1, f2, f1-f2))


def divide(f1, f2):
    print('Result of dividing {0} by {1} is {2}'.format(f1, f2, f1/f2))


def multiply(f1, f2):
    print('Result of multiplying {0} and {1} is {2}'.format(f1, f2, f1*f2))


################################################

if __name__ == "__main__": main()

Thank you for reading. 

Almir Mustafic