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NumberExpand
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NumberExpand

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gives a list of the decimal digits of x multiplied by their corresponding powers of 10.

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expands x in base b.

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NumberExpand[x,b,len]

gives a list of length len.

Details

  • For any number x, Total[NumberExpand[x,]]==x.
  • For an integer x, NumberExpand[x] returns a list of integers.
  • For a rational x, the fractional part of x is added to the last element of NumberExpand[IntegerPart[x]].
  • For a non-exact number x, all elements of NumberExpand[x] but the last are exact.
  • For an exact number x, the length of NumberExpand[x] equals the number of digits in the integer part of x.
  • For a non-exact number x, NumberExpand[x] normally returns a list of length Round[Precision[x]].
  • For a non-exact number x and an exact base b, NumberExpand[x,b] normally returns a list of length Round[Precision[x] Log[b,10]].
  • If len is larger than Precision[x] Log[b,10], the remaining parts of the expansion are filled in as Indeterminate.
  • The base b in NumberExpand[x,b] can be a real number greater than 1.
  • For any number x of absolute value less than 1, the first element of NumberExpand[x,] is 0 or 0..
  • NumberExpand[0.] returns a list of length Floor[Accuracy[0.]]+2.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)Summary of the most common use cases

Expand a number into a list of multiples of powers of 10:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand a number in base 2:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Specify the length of the output:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Scope  (5)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Expand an integer into a list of multiples of powers of 10:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand a rational number in base 2, obtaining a rational remaining part:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand a machine-precision real number, obtaining a machine-precision remaining part:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand an exact complex number in base 7:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand an inexact complex number in base 10:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Generalizations & Extensions  (5)Generalized and extended use cases

Expand a negative integer:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand a real number in a rational base:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand a number using a machine-precision base:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Expand a rational number in a real base:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2
Out[2]=2

Expand a real number in a real base:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Properties & Relations  (9)Properties of the function, and connections to other functions

For an integer, when the length of the output is required to be larger than needed, NumberExpand pads with 0s on the right:

Out[1]=1

For a rational number with a finite-length decimal part, when the length of the output is required to be larger than needed, NumberExpand pads with 0s on the right:

Out[1]=1

For a rational number with an infinite-length decimal part, the last element of the output list is always nonzero:

Out[2]=2
Out[3]=3

For any number n, Total[NumberExpand[n,]] equals n:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

The total of the expansion of an exact number in an integer base is the number itself:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

If the base is non-exact, the total will have a different precision:

Out[3]=3
Out[4]=4

For an exact number expanded into inexact parts, the difference with the total is smaller than the last part of the expansion:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2
Out[3]=3

Then Rationalize may be able to recover the original exact number:

Out[4]=4

When a non-exact number is expanded in an exact base, all the elements of the output list but the last are exact:

Out[1]=1

The last element is not necessarily zero:

Out[2]=2

For non-exact numbers, NumberExpand returns a list of parts corresponding to the digits of RealDigits:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2

Small variations of the input may result in representations containing multiple 9s:

Out[3]=3
Out[4]=4

The precision of Total[NumberExpand[]] is effectively determined by the minimum precision of the input arguments:

Out[1]=1
Out[2]=2
Out[3]=3
Out[4]=4

NumberExpand automatically threads over lists:

Out[1]=1

Possible Issues  (1)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

Parts of the expansion unknown at the available precision are filled in as Indeterminate:

Out[2]=2
Out[3]=3

In this situation, the original number cannot be reconstructed:

Out[4]=4
Wolfram Research (2016), NumberExpand, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html.
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Wolfram Research (2016), NumberExpand, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2016), NumberExpand, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html.

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Wolfram Research (2016), NumberExpand, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2016. "NumberExpand." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html.

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Wolfram Language. 2016. "NumberExpand." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2016). NumberExpand. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html

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Wolfram Language. (2016). NumberExpand. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_numberexpand, author="Wolfram Research", title="{NumberExpand}", year="2016", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html}", note=[Accessed: 13-April-2025 ]}

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@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_numberexpand, author="Wolfram Research", title="{NumberExpand}", year="2016", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html}", note=[Accessed: 13-April-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_numberexpand, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={NumberExpand}, year={2016}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html}, note=[Accessed: 13-April-2025 ]}

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@online{reference.wolfram_2025_numberexpand, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={NumberExpand}, year={2016}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/NumberExpand.html}, note=[Accessed: 13-April-2025 ]}