Unsupported operand type for *: builtin_function_or_method and float

Unsupported operand type for *: builtin_function_or_method and float #

The Python "TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for *: 'float' and 'builtin_function_or_method'" occurs when we forget to call a builtin function or method. To solve the error, make sure to call the function, e.g. math.sqrt(25).

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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import math

my_number = 10.5

# ⛔️ TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for *: 'float' and 'builtin_function_or_method'
result = my_number * math.sqrt

We forgot to invoke the math.sqrt method so we ended up trying to multiply a number and a method.

To solve the error, make sure to call the method.

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import math

my_number = 10.5

result = my_number * math.sqrt(25)

print(result) # 👉️ 52.5

We used parenthesis to call the method, so we can get its return value.

If you aren't sure what type a variable stores, use the built-in type() class.

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import math

my_number = 10.5
print(type(my_number))  # 👉️ <class 'float'>
print(isinstance(my_number, float))  # 👉️ True

print(type(math.sqrt))  # 👉️ <class 'builtin_function_or_method'>
print(callable(math.sqrt))  # 👉️ True

The type class returns the type of an object.

The isinstance function returns True if the passed in object is an instance or a subclass of the passed in class.

The callable function takes an object as an argument and returns True if the object appears callable, otherwise False is returned.

If the callable() function returns True, it is still possible that calling the object fails, however if it returns False, calling the object will never succeed.