How to Fix OverflowError: Math Range Error in Python

The float type variables are used to represent numbers with a decimal point. It stores values between a given range and uses the inf string to represent values that exceed this range.

The math library is used to perform various mathematical operations. This tutorial will discuss OverflowError: math range error in Python.

Fix the OverflowError: math range error in Python

An OverflowError indicates that the raised error is due to exceeding the range of some data type. This specific error occurs when we perform a mathematical operation using the math library but exceeding the float type’s decimal range.

For example,

import math

print(math.exp(2999))

Output:

OverflowError: math range error

In the above example, we get the error when using the math.exp() function. This function calculates the exponential value of a given number.

In our example, the calculated value exceeds the range of decimals in float, so we get the error.

We need to be mindful of the range while calculating such calculations. There is no fix, so we can use the try and except blocks to work around this error.

We can also use the if-else statements similarly, which is inefficient as we will have to check the input operands for the function beforehand.

We will put the code that can raise the error in the try block and the alternative code in the except block. If no error is raised, the code in the try block is executed; otherwise, the code in the except block will run.

For example,

import math

try:
    print(math.exp(2999))
except:
    print("Error")

Output:

Error

In the above example, the try code block raised the error, so the except code block was executed.

We can also use alternative mathematical functions in the numpy library. The numpy library returns the inf constant whenever the range is exceeded.

For example,

import numpy

print(numpy.exp(2999))

Output:

inf

In the above example, the numpy.exp function returns inf since the output exceeds the range.