Python 2.6.6 (r266:84292, Jan 22 2014, 09:42:36) [GCC 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-4)] on linux2 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> 6601/7869 0 >>> a = float(6601) >>> b = float(7869) >>> print a/b 0.838861354683 >>> print "%.3f" % (a/b) 0.839 >>> print "%.2f" % (a/b) 0.84