The tolist() method should do what you want. If you have a numpy array, just call tolist():

In [17]: a
Out[17]: 
array([ 0.        ,  0.14285714,  0.28571429,  0.42857143,  0.57142857,
        0.71428571,  0.85714286,  1.        ,  1.14285714,  1.28571429,
        1.42857143,  1.57142857,  1.71428571,  1.85714286,  2.        ])

In [18]: a.dtype
Out[18]: dtype('float64')

In [19]: b = a.tolist()

In [20]: b
Out[20]: 
[0.0,
 0.14285714285714285,
 0.2857142857142857,
 0.42857142857142855,
 0.5714285714285714,
 0.7142857142857142,
 0.8571428571428571,
 1.0,
 1.1428571428571428,
 1.2857142857142856,
 1.4285714285714284,
 1.5714285714285714,
 1.7142857142857142,
 1.857142857142857,
 2.0]

In [21]: type(b)
Out[21]: list

In [22]: type(b[0])
Out[22]: float

If, in fact, you really have python list of numpy.float64 objects, then @Alexander's answer is great, or you could convert the list to an array and then use the tolist() method. E.g.

In [46]: c
Out[46]: 
[0.0,
 0.33333333333333331,
 0.66666666666666663,
 1.0,
 1.3333333333333333,
 1.6666666666666665,
 2.0]

In [47]: type(c)
Out[47]: list

In [48]: type(c[0])
Out[48]: numpy.float64

@Alexander's suggestion, a list comprehension:

In [49]: [float(v) for v in c]
Out[49]: 
[0.0,
 0.3333333333333333,
 0.6666666666666666,
 1.0,
 1.3333333333333333,
 1.6666666666666665,
 2.0]

Or, convert to an array and then use the tolist() method.

In [50]: np.array(c).tolist()
Out[50]: 
[0.0,
 0.3333333333333333,
 0.6666666666666666,
 1.0,
 1.3333333333333333,
 1.6666666666666665,
 2.0]

If you are concerned with the speed, here's a comparison. The input, x, is a python list of numpy.float64 objects:

In [8]: type(x)
Out[8]: list

In [9]: len(x)
Out[9]: 1000

In [10]: type(x[0])
Out[10]: numpy.float64

Timing for the list comprehension:

In [11]: %timeit list1 = [float(v) for v in x]
10000 loops, best of 3: 109 µs per loop

Timing for conversion to numpy array and then tolist():

In [12]: %timeit list2 = np.array(x).tolist()
10000 loops, best of 3: 70.5 µs per loop

So it is faster to convert the list to an array and then call tolist().

Answer from Warren Weckesser on Stack Overflow
Top answer
1 of 3
31

The tolist() method should do what you want. If you have a numpy array, just call tolist():

In [17]: a
Out[17]: 
array([ 0.        ,  0.14285714,  0.28571429,  0.42857143,  0.57142857,
        0.71428571,  0.85714286,  1.        ,  1.14285714,  1.28571429,
        1.42857143,  1.57142857,  1.71428571,  1.85714286,  2.        ])

In [18]: a.dtype
Out[18]: dtype('float64')

In [19]: b = a.tolist()

In [20]: b
Out[20]: 
[0.0,
 0.14285714285714285,
 0.2857142857142857,
 0.42857142857142855,
 0.5714285714285714,
 0.7142857142857142,
 0.8571428571428571,
 1.0,
 1.1428571428571428,
 1.2857142857142856,
 1.4285714285714284,
 1.5714285714285714,
 1.7142857142857142,
 1.857142857142857,
 2.0]

In [21]: type(b)
Out[21]: list

In [22]: type(b[0])
Out[22]: float

If, in fact, you really have python list of numpy.float64 objects, then @Alexander's answer is great, or you could convert the list to an array and then use the tolist() method. E.g.

In [46]: c
Out[46]: 
[0.0,
 0.33333333333333331,
 0.66666666666666663,
 1.0,
 1.3333333333333333,
 1.6666666666666665,
 2.0]

In [47]: type(c)
Out[47]: list

In [48]: type(c[0])
Out[48]: numpy.float64

@Alexander's suggestion, a list comprehension:

In [49]: [float(v) for v in c]
Out[49]: 
[0.0,
 0.3333333333333333,
 0.6666666666666666,
 1.0,
 1.3333333333333333,
 1.6666666666666665,
 2.0]

Or, convert to an array and then use the tolist() method.

In [50]: np.array(c).tolist()
Out[50]: 
[0.0,
 0.3333333333333333,
 0.6666666666666666,
 1.0,
 1.3333333333333333,
 1.6666666666666665,
 2.0]

If you are concerned with the speed, here's a comparison. The input, x, is a python list of numpy.float64 objects:

In [8]: type(x)
Out[8]: list

In [9]: len(x)
Out[9]: 1000

In [10]: type(x[0])
Out[10]: numpy.float64

Timing for the list comprehension:

In [11]: %timeit list1 = [float(v) for v in x]
10000 loops, best of 3: 109 µs per loop

Timing for conversion to numpy array and then tolist():

In [12]: %timeit list2 = np.array(x).tolist()
10000 loops, best of 3: 70.5 µs per loop

So it is faster to convert the list to an array and then call tolist().

2 of 3
11

You could use a list comprehension:

floats = [float(np_float) for np_float in np_float_list]
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IncludeHelp
includehelp.com › python › how-to-convert-numpy-array-type-and-values-from-float64-to-float32.aspx
Python - How to convert NumPy array type and values from Float64 to Float32?
numpy then converts it properly back to Float64. ... # Import numpy import numpy as np # Creating a numpy array arr = np.ones(4,dtype="float64") # Display original array print("Original Array:\n",arr,"\n") # Display type of original array print("type of Original Array:\n",arr.dtype,"\n") # ...
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GitHub
github.com › samuelcolvin › pydantic › issues › 1879
numpy.float64 is not converted to float · Issue #1879 · pydantic/pydantic
August 28, 2020 - pydantic version: 1.6.1 pydantic ... python version: 3.7.7 (default, Jun 9 2020, 17:58:51) [GCC 8.3.0] platform: Linux-4.19.76-linuxkit-x86_64-with-debian-10.4 optional deps. installed: ['email-validator'] In the code below, I would expect the numpy.float64 to be converted to a float by the Foo ...
Author   dewolfarno
🌐
YouTube
youtube.com › codetube
Convert list of numpy float64 to float in Python quickly - YouTube
In Python, you might need to convert a list of numpy.float64 elements to regular Python float type for various purposes. This tutorial will guide you through...
Published   November 4, 2023
Views   73
🌐
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › using-numpy-to-convert-array-elements-to-float-type
Using NumPy to Convert Array Elements to Float Type - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - Explanation: Here, a string list ... for separate type conversion. np.float64() is a NumPy universal function (ufunc) that converts the elements of an array into 64-bit floating-point numbers....
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Jasonblog
jasonblog.github.io › note › python › convert_list_of_numpyfloat64_to_float_and_converti.html
Convert list of numpy.float64 to float and Converting strings to floats in a DataFrame | Jason note
import pandas as pd h = pd.Series(['15', '21.0', '33.0']) l = pd.Series(['1', '2.0', '3.0']) # Converting strings to floats in a DataFrame using to_numeric h = pd.to_numeric(h) l = pd.to_numeric(l) s = h - l print type(s) print s # Convert list of numpy.float64 to float using tolist s = s.tolist() print type(s) print s
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w3resource
w3resource.com › python-exercises › numpy › basic › numpy-basic-exercise-41.php
NumPy: Convert numpy dtypes to native python types - w3resource
August 28, 2025 - This process ensures compatibility between NumPy arrays and standard Python operations by enabling seamless data type conversions. ... # Importing the NumPy library with an alias 'np' import numpy as np # Printing a message indicating conversion from numpy.float32 to Python float print("numpy.float32 to python float") # Creating a numpy.float32 value 'x' initialized to 0 x = np.float32(0) # Printing the type of 'x' print(type(x)) # Extracting the Python float value from the numpy.float32 'x' using the item() method pyval = x.item() # Printing the type of the extracted Python float value 'pyval' print(type(pyval))
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ROS Answers
answers.ros.org › question › 122286 › float64-to-float-in-python
Float64 to float in python - ROS Answers: Open Source Q&A Forum
January 25, 2014 - import roslib; roslib.load_manifest('UWU_Bot') import rospy from geometry_msgs.msg import Twist from std_msgs.msg import Float64 def callback(volt): Distance = 16.2537*volt**4 - 129.893 * volt**3 + 382.268 * volt**2 - 512.611 * volt + 306.439 def nav(): rospy.init_node('UWU_Bot') pub = rospy.Publisher('cmd_vel', Twist) rospy.Subscriber("/IR_volts", Float64 , callback) rospy.spin() if __name__ == '__main__': try: nav() except rospy.ROSInterruptException: pass · This is the python code. And I used rosserial IR_ranger example to send the Float64 data.
Find elsewhere
Top answer
1 of 3
8

Yes, actually when you use Python's native float to specify the dtype for an array , numpy converts it to float64. As given in documentation -

Note that, above, we use the Python float object as a dtype. NumPy knows that int refers to np.int_, bool means np.bool_ , that float is np.float_ and complex is np.complex_. The other data-types do not have Python equivalents.

And -

float_ - Shorthand for float64.

This is why even though you use float to convert the whole array to float , it still uses np.float64.

According to the requirement from the other question , the best solution would be converting to normal float object after taking each scalar value as -

float(new_array[0])

A solution that I could think of is to create a subclass for float and use that for casting (though to me it looks bad). But I would prefer the previous solution over this if possible. Example -

In [20]: import numpy as np

In [21]: na = np.array([1., 2., 3.])

In [22]: na = np.array([1., 2., 3., np.inf, np.inf])

In [23]: type(na[-1])
Out[23]: numpy.float64

In [24]: na[-1] - na[-2]
C:\Anaconda3\Scripts\ipython-script.py:1: RuntimeWarning: invalid value encountered in double_scalars
  if __name__ == '__main__':
Out[24]: nan

In [25]: class x(float):
   ....:     pass
   ....:

In [26]: na_new = na.astype(x)


In [28]: type(na_new[-1])
Out[28]: float                           #No idea why its showing float, I would have thought it would show '__main__.x' .

In [29]: na_new[-1] - na_new[-2]
Out[29]: nan

In [30]: na_new
Out[30]: array([1.0, 2.0, 3.0, inf, inf], dtype=object)
2 of 3
3

You can create an anonymous type float like this

>>> new_array = my_array.astype(type('float', (float,), {}))
>>> type(new_array[0])
<type 'float'>
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Python Forum
python-forum.io › thread-2181.html
pandas convert to tuple & float to float64
Dear Pandas Experts, I got two question on my Introduction to Python homework. The jupiter auto-grader expects in case 1 a float64 and in case 2 a tuple, not a list. case 1 newfour_2=np.subtract(newfo
Top answer
1 of 7
49

You can convert most of the columns by just calling convert_objects:

In [36]:

df = df.convert_objects(convert_numeric=True)
df.dtypes
Out[36]:
Date         object
WD            int64
Manpower    float64
2nd          object
CTR          object
2ndU        float64
T1            int64
T2          int64
T3           int64
T4        float64
dtype: object

For column '2nd' and 'CTR' we can call the vectorised str methods to replace the thousands separator and remove the '%' sign and then astype to convert:

In [39]:

df['2nd'] = df['2nd'].str.replace(',','').astype(int)
df['CTR'] = df['CTR'].str.replace('%','').astype(np.float64)
df.dtypes
Out[39]:
Date         object
WD            int64
Manpower    float64
2nd           int32
CTR         float64
2ndU        float64
T1            int64
T2            int64
T3            int64
T4           object
dtype: object
In [40]:

df.head()
Out[40]:
        Date  WD  Manpower   2nd   CTR  2ndU   T1    T2   T3     T4
0   2013/4/6   6       NaN  2645  5.27  0.29  407   533  454    368
1   2013/4/7   7       NaN  2118  5.89  0.31  257   659  583    369
2  2013/4/13   6       NaN  2470  5.38  0.29  354   531  473    383
3  2013/4/14   7       NaN  2033  6.77  0.37  396   748  681    458
4  2013/4/20   6       NaN  2690  5.38  0.29  361   528  541    381

Or you can do the string handling operations above without the call to astype and then call convert_objects to convert everything in one go.

UPDATE

Since version 0.17.0 convert_objects is deprecated and there isn't a top-level function to do this so you need to do:

df.apply(lambda col:pd.to_numeric(col, errors='coerce'))

See the docs and this related question: pandas: to_numeric for multiple columns

2 of 7
41

convert_objects is deprecated.

For pandas >= 0.17.0, use pd.to_numeric

df["2nd"] = pd.to_numeric(df["2nd"])
Top answer
1 of 2
69
>>> numpy.float64(5.9975).hex()
'0x1.7fd70a3d70a3dp+2'
>>> (5.9975).hex()
'0x1.7fd70a3d70a3dp+2'

They are the same number. What differs is the textual representation obtained via by their __repr__ method; the native Python type outputs the minimal digits needed to uniquely distinguish values, while NumPy code before version 1.14.0, released in 2018 didn't try to minimise the number of digits output.

2 of 2
3

Numpy float64 dtype inherits from Python float, which implements C double internally. You can verify that as follows:

isinstance(np.float64(5.9975), float)   # True

So even if their string representation is different, the values they store are the same.

On the other hand, np.float32 implements C float (which has no analog in pure Python) and no numpy int dtype (np.int32, np.int64 etc.) inherits from Python int because in Python 3 int is unbounded:

isinstance(np.float32(5.9975), float)   # False
isinstance(np.int32(1), int)            # False

So why define np.float64 at all?

np.float64 defines most of the attributes and methods in np.ndarray. From the following code, you can see that np.float64 implements all but 4 methods of np.array:

[m for m in set(dir(np.array([]))) - set(dir(np.float64())) if not m.startswith("_")]

# ['argpartition', 'ctypes', 'partition', 'dot']

So if you have a function that expects to use ndarray methods, you can pass np.float64 to it while float doesn't give you the same.

For example:

def my_cool_function(x):
    return x.sum()

my_cool_function(np.array([1.5, 2]))   # <--- OK
my_cool_function(np.float64(5.9975))   # <--- OK
my_cool_function(5.9975)               # <--- AttributeError
🌐
GitHub
github.com › pythonnet › pythonnet › issues › 1833
Converting numpy float64 of python float to Decimal is not the same (get rounded in numpy case) · Issue #1833 · pythonnet/pythonnet
June 24, 2022 - I had to convert floats to Decimal but somehow the current Double I got out of Decimal when looking at it using ToDouble would give me only the round part of the double. I figured that my floats were not native python but numpy float64 .
Author   seb5g
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Medium
medium.com › @amit25173 › understanding-numpy-float64-a300ac9e096a
Understanding numpy.float64. If you think you need to spend $2,000… | by Amit Yadav | Medium
February 8, 2025 - As you can see, we took an integer array and converted it to float64. This gives the array more precision for future operations. It’s especially helpful when you’re working with mixed data types and need to ensure consistency in your calculations. Now that we’ve covered the basics of operations and precision, let’s move on to the FAQ section! What is the difference between float32 and float64 in NumPy?
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IONOS UK
ionos.co.uk › digital guide › websites › web development › converting python strings to floats
How to convert Python strings to floats - IONOS UK
January 2, 2025 - import numpy as np string_value = "3.1416" float_value = np.float64(string_value) print(float_value) # Output: 3.1416python
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NumPy
numpy.org › doc › stable › user › basics.types.html
Data types — NumPy v2.4 Manual
A basic numerical type name combined with a numeric bitsize defines a concrete type. The bitsize is the number of bits that are needed to represent a single value in memory. For example, numpy.float64 is a 64 bit floating point data type. Some types, such as numpy.int_ and numpy.intp, have differing bitsizes, dependent on the platforms (e.g.