Python Error Message: cant multiply sequence by non-int of type float

If you are writing programs, you will from time to time get error messages. The more complex your program the more likely it is to happen. It is even more likely to happen when you are in loading external data. However, once you encounter an error message, you will not only often know how to fix it but how to avoid them as well.

What is this error?

The cant multiply sequence by non-int of type float’ error message occurs when a string treated as a sum or multiplication operator binary number.

For example”:

v1 = "5"
v2 = 4
rs = v1 * v2

This little bit of python interpreter code would yield our float number message. In this simple case, it is a user input coding mistake, but it is more likely to happen when you input floating point number data from a file or when using an import NumPy array function that accepts any data type. When you load a file, you might unknowingly load data as a string, instead of a floating point number. Also, a NumPy array can include both an integer number and digit strings making it possible to get confused as it will sometimes have missing values.

Why does this occur?

The can’t multiply by non-int of type ‘float’ error message is a result of multiplying with a string. A multiply sequence works with an integer value or numerical value and a floating point value but not a python string format. This is because a python string is not a given number and therefore cannot be multiplied like a numerical value or decimal value could. As a result, if you try to multiply a string format with an integer value or float value you will get our message. Using a repeated string can cause this problem if you forget that it is a string and not a number.

How do I fix it?

Fixing the can’t multiply sequence by non-int of type ‘float’ error message is quite simple. You have two ways that you can fix this problem. The first way is to make sure that all of the variables in your multiplication repeating sequence have a numeric value output. This can be done by making sure that you define them as numbers such that our original example becomes:

v1 = 5
v2 = 4
rs = v1 * v2

This code does not produce our message because you are multiplying two numeric variables together. Unfortunately, when loading in file data, you cannot always control the format. Therefore, there is a second way to fix it that involves converting the string value to a floating-point. As a result, our original example becomes:

v1 = "5"
v2 = 4
rs = float(v1) * v2

Both of these examples solve our little problem, but the first one actually avoids the cause of the problem entirely. The can’t multiply sequence by non-int of type ‘float’ error message is quite easy to understand. It can result from a mistake in your code, or from needing to load a file that has as a string value. Both Ways of encountering this problem have different solutions, but both ways prevent this problem from occurring.