Develop Reference

How to round 6.25 to 6.3 and 6.24 to 6.2 in Python? [duplicate]

I was just re-reading What’s New In Python 3.0 and it states:
The round() function rounding strategy and return type have changed.
Exact halfway cases are now rounded to the nearest even result instead
of away from zero. (For example, round(2.5) now returns 2 rather than
3.)
and
the documentation for round:
For the built-in types supporting round(), values are rounded to the
closest multiple of 10 to the power minus n; if two multiples are
equally close, rounding is done toward the even choice
So, under v2.7.3:
In [85]: round(2.5)
Out[85]: 3.0
In [86]: round(3.5)
Out[86]: 4.0
as I'd have expected. However, now under v3.2.3:
In [32]: round(2.5)
Out[32]: 2
In [33]: round(3.5)
Out[33]: 4
This seems counter-intuitive and contrary to what I understand about
rounding (and bound to trip up people). English isn't my native language but
until I read this I thought I knew what rounding meant :-/ I am sure
at the time v3 was introduced there must have been some discussion of
this, but I was unable to find a good reason in my search.
Does anyone have insight into why this was changed to this?
Are there any other mainstream programming languages (e.g., C, C++, Java, Perl, ..) that do this sort of (to me inconsistent) rounding?
What am I missing here?
UPDATE: #Li-aungYip's comment re "Banker's rounding" gave me the right search term/keywords to search for and I found this SO question: Why does .NET use banker's rounding as default?, so I will be reading that carefully.

Python 3's way (called "round half to even" or "banker's rounding") is considered the standard rounding method these days, though some language implementations aren't on the bus yet.
The simple "always round 0.5 up" technique results in a slight bias toward the higher number. With large numbers of calculations, this can be significant. The Python 3.0 approach eliminates this issue.
There is more than one method of rounding in common use. IEEE 754, the international standard for floating-point math, defines five different rounding methods (the one used by Python 3.0 is the default). And there are others.
This behavior is not as widely known as it ought to be. AppleScript was, if I remember correctly, an early adopter of this rounding method. The round command in AppleScript offers several options, but round-toward-even is the default as it is in IEEE 754. Apparently the engineer who implemented the round command got so fed up with all the requests to "make it work like I learned in school" that he implemented just that: round 2.5 rounding as taught in school is a valid AppleScript command. :-)

You can control the rounding you get in Py3000 using the Decimal module:
>>> decimal.Decimal('3.5').quantize(decimal.Decimal('1'),
rounding=decimal.ROUND_HALF_UP)
>>> Decimal('4')
>>> decimal.Decimal('2.5').quantize(decimal.Decimal('1'),
rounding=decimal.ROUND_HALF_EVEN)
>>> Decimal('2')
>>> decimal.Decimal('3.5').quantize(decimal.Decimal('1'),
rounding=decimal.ROUND_HALF_DOWN)
>>> Decimal('3')

Just to add here an important note from documentation:
https://docs.python.org/dev/library/functions.html#round
Note
The behavior of round() for floats can be surprising: for example,
round(2.675, 2) gives 2.67 instead of the expected 2.68. This is not a
bug: it’s a result of the fact that most decimal fractions can’t be
represented exactly as a float. See Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues
and Limitations for more information.
So don't be surprised to get following results in Python 3.2:
>>> round(0.25,1), round(0.35,1), round(0.45,1), round(0.55,1)
(0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.6)
>>> round(0.025,2), round(0.035,2), round(0.045,2), round(0.055,2)
(0.03, 0.04, 0.04, 0.06)

Python 3.x rounds .5 values to a neighbour which is even
assert round(0.5) == 0
assert round(1.5) == 2
assert round(2.5) == 2
import decimal
assert decimal.Decimal('0.5').to_integral_value() == 0
assert decimal.Decimal('1.5').to_integral_value() == 2
assert decimal.Decimal('2.5').to_integral_value() == 2
however, one can change decimal rounding "back" to always round .5 up, if needed :
decimal.getcontext().rounding = decimal.ROUND_HALF_UP
assert decimal.Decimal('0.5').to_integral_value() == 1
assert decimal.Decimal('1.5').to_integral_value() == 2
assert decimal.Decimal('2.5').to_integral_value() == 3
i = int(decimal.Decimal('2.5').to_integral_value()) # to get an int
assert i == 3
assert type(i) is int

I recently had problems with this, too. Hence, I have developed a python 3 module that has 2 functions trueround() and trueround_precision() that address this and give the same rounding behaviour were are used to from primary school (not banker's rounding). Here is the module. Just save the code and copy it in or import it. Note: the trueround_precision module can change the rounding behaviour depending on needs according to the ROUND_CEILING, ROUND_DOWN, ROUND_FLOOR, ROUND_HALF_DOWN, ROUND_HALF_EVEN, ROUND_HALF_UP, ROUND_UP, and ROUND_05UP flags in the decimal module (see that modules documentation for more info). For the functions below, see the docstrings or use help(trueround) and help(trueround_precision) if copied into an interpreter for further documentation.
#! /usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
def trueround(number, places=0):
'''
trueround(number, places)
example:
>>> trueround(2.55, 1) == 2.6
True
uses standard functions with no import to give "normal" behavior to
rounding so that trueround(2.5) == 3, trueround(3.5) == 4,
trueround(4.5) == 5, etc. Use with caution, however. This still has
the same problem with floating point math. The return object will
be type int if places=0 or a float if places=>1.
number is the floating point number needed rounding
places is the number of decimal places to round to with '0' as the
default which will actually return our interger. Otherwise, a
floating point will be returned to the given decimal place.
Note: Use trueround_precision() if true precision with
floats is needed
GPL 2.0
copywrite by Narnie Harshoe <signupnarnie#gmail.com>
'''
place = 10**(places)
rounded = (int(number*place + 0.5if number>=0 else -0.5))/place
if rounded == int(rounded):
rounded = int(rounded)
return rounded
def trueround_precision(number, places=0, rounding=None):
'''
trueround_precision(number, places, rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
Uses true precision for floating numbers using the 'decimal' module in
python and assumes the module has already been imported before calling
this function. The return object is of type Decimal.
All rounding options are available from the decimal module including
ROUND_CEILING, ROUND_DOWN, ROUND_FLOOR, ROUND_HALF_DOWN, ROUND_HALF_EVEN,
ROUND_HALF_UP, ROUND_UP, and ROUND_05UP.
examples:
>>> trueround(2.5, 0) == Decimal('3')
True
>>> trueround(2.5, 0, ROUND_DOWN) == Decimal('2')
True
number is a floating point number or a string type containing a number on
on which to be acted.
places is the number of decimal places to round to with '0' as the default.
Note: if type float is passed as the first argument to the function, it
will first be converted to a str type for correct rounding.
GPL 2.0
copywrite by Narnie Harshoe <signupnarnie#gmail.com>
'''
from decimal import Decimal as dec
from decimal import ROUND_HALF_UP
from decimal import ROUND_CEILING
from decimal import ROUND_DOWN
from decimal import ROUND_FLOOR
from decimal import ROUND_HALF_DOWN
from decimal import ROUND_HALF_EVEN
from decimal import ROUND_UP
from decimal import ROUND_05UP
if type(number) == type(float()):
number = str(number)
if rounding == None:
rounding = ROUND_HALF_UP
place = '1.'
for i in range(places):
place = ''.join([place, '0'])
return dec(number).quantize(dec(place), rounding=rounding)
Hope this helps,
Narnie

Python 2 rounding behaviour in python 3.
Adding 1 at the 15th decimal places.
Accuracy upto 15 digits.
round2=lambda x,y=None: round(x+1e-15,y)
Not right for 175.57. For that it should be added in the 13th decimal place as the number is grown. Switching to Decimal is better than reinventing the same wheel.
from decimal import Decimal, ROUND_HALF_UP
def round2(x, y=2):
prec = Decimal(10) ** -y
return float(Decimal(str(round(x,3))).quantize(prec, rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP))
Not used y

Some cases:
in: Decimal(75.29 / 2).quantize(Decimal('0.01'), rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
in: round(75.29 / 2, 2)
out: 37.65 GOOD
in: Decimal(85.55 / 2).quantize(Decimal('0.01'), rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
in: round(85.55 / 2, 2)
out: 42.77 BAD
For fix:
in: round(75.29 / 2 + 0.00001, 2)
out: 37.65 GOOD
in: round(85.55 / 2 + 0.00001, 2)
out: 42.78 GOOD
If you want more decimals, for example 4, you should add (+ 0.0000001).
Work for me.

Sample Reproduction:
['{} => {}'.format(x+0.5, round(x+0.5)) for x in range(10)]
['0.5 => 0', '1.5 => 2', '2.5 => 2', '3.5 => 4', '4.5 => 4', '5.5 => 6', '6.5 => 6', '7.5 => 8', '8.5 => 8', '9.5 => 10']
API: https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#round
States:
Return number rounded to ndigits precision after the decimal point. If
ndigits is omitted or is None, it returns the nearest integer to its
input.
For the built-in types supporting round(), values are rounded to the
closest multiple of 10 to the power minus ndigits; if two multiples
are equally close, rounding is done toward the even choice (so, for
example, both round(0.5) and round(-0.5) are 0, and round(1.5) is 2).
Any integer value is valid for ndigits (positive, zero, or negative).
The return value is an integer if ndigits is omitted or None.
Otherwise the return value has the same type as number.
For a general Python object number, round delegates to
number.round.
Note The behavior of round() for floats can be surprising: for
example, round(2.675, 2) gives 2.67 instead of the expected 2.68. This
is not a bug: it’s a result of the fact that most decimal fractions
can’t be represented exactly as a float. See Floating Point
Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations for more information.
Given this insight you can use some math to resolve it
import math
def my_round(i):
f = math.floor(i)
return f if i - f < 0.5 else f+1
now you can run the same test with my_round instead of round.
['{} => {}'.format(x + 0.5, my_round(x+0.5)) for x in range(10)]
['0.5 => 1', '1.5 => 2', '2.5 => 3', '3.5 => 4', '4.5 => 5', '5.5 => 6', '6.5 => 7', '7.5 => 8', '8.5 => 9', '9.5 => 10']

I propose custom function which would work for a DataFrame:
def dfCustomRound(df, dec):
d = 1 / 10 ** dec
df = round(df, dec + 2)
return (((df % (1 * d)) == 0.5 * d).astype(int) * 0.1 * d * np.sign(df) + df).round(dec)

# round module within numpy when decimal is X.5 will give desired (X+1)
import numpy as np
example_of_some_variable = 3.5
rounded_result_of_variable = np.round(example_of_some_variable,0)
print (rounded_result_of_variable)

Try this code:
def roundup(input):
demo = input if str(input)[-1] != "5" else str(input).replace("5","6")
place = len(demo.split(".")[1])-1
return(round(float(demo),place))
The result will be:
>>> x = roundup(2.5)
>>> x
3.0
>>> x = roundup(2.05)
>>> x
2.1
>>> x = roundup(2.005)
>>> x
2.01
Ooutput you can check here:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/QQUkS.png

The easiest way to round in Python 3.x as taught in school is using an auxiliary variable:
n = 0.1
round(2.5 + n)
And these will be the results of the series 2.0 to 3.0 (in 0.1 steps):
>>> round(2 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.1 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.2 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.3 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.4 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.5 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.6 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.7 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.8 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.9 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(3 + n)
>>> 3

You can control the rounding you using the math.ceil module:
import math
print(math.ceil(2.5))
> 3

Why rounding numbers in python gives different answers [duplicate]

I was just re-reading What’s New In Python 3.0 and it states:
The round() function rounding strategy and return type have changed.
Exact halfway cases are now rounded to the nearest even result instead
of away from zero. (For example, round(2.5) now returns 2 rather than
3.)
and
the documentation for round:
For the built-in types supporting round(), values are rounded to the
closest multiple of 10 to the power minus n; if two multiples are
equally close, rounding is done toward the even choice
So, under v2.7.3:
In [85]: round(2.5)
Out[85]: 3.0
In [86]: round(3.5)
Out[86]: 4.0
as I'd have expected. However, now under v3.2.3:
In [32]: round(2.5)
Out[32]: 2
In [33]: round(3.5)
Out[33]: 4
This seems counter-intuitive and contrary to what I understand about
rounding (and bound to trip up people). English isn't my native language but
until I read this I thought I knew what rounding meant :-/ I am sure
at the time v3 was introduced there must have been some discussion of
this, but I was unable to find a good reason in my search.
Does anyone have insight into why this was changed to this?
Are there any other mainstream programming languages (e.g., C, C++, Java, Perl, ..) that do this sort of (to me inconsistent) rounding?
What am I missing here?
UPDATE: #Li-aungYip's comment re "Banker's rounding" gave me the right search term/keywords to search for and I found this SO question: Why does .NET use banker's rounding as default?, so I will be reading that carefully.

Python 3's way (called "round half to even" or "banker's rounding") is considered the standard rounding method these days, though some language implementations aren't on the bus yet.
The simple "always round 0.5 up" technique results in a slight bias toward the higher number. With large numbers of calculations, this can be significant. The Python 3.0 approach eliminates this issue.
There is more than one method of rounding in common use. IEEE 754, the international standard for floating-point math, defines five different rounding methods (the one used by Python 3.0 is the default). And there are others.
This behavior is not as widely known as it ought to be. AppleScript was, if I remember correctly, an early adopter of this rounding method. The round command in AppleScript offers several options, but round-toward-even is the default as it is in IEEE 754. Apparently the engineer who implemented the round command got so fed up with all the requests to "make it work like I learned in school" that he implemented just that: round 2.5 rounding as taught in school is a valid AppleScript command. :-)

You can control the rounding you get in Py3000 using the Decimal module:
>>> decimal.Decimal('3.5').quantize(decimal.Decimal('1'),
rounding=decimal.ROUND_HALF_UP)
>>> Decimal('4')
>>> decimal.Decimal('2.5').quantize(decimal.Decimal('1'),
rounding=decimal.ROUND_HALF_EVEN)
>>> Decimal('2')
>>> decimal.Decimal('3.5').quantize(decimal.Decimal('1'),
rounding=decimal.ROUND_HALF_DOWN)
>>> Decimal('3')

Just to add here an important note from documentation:
https://docs.python.org/dev/library/functions.html#round
Note
The behavior of round() for floats can be surprising: for example,
round(2.675, 2) gives 2.67 instead of the expected 2.68. This is not a
bug: it’s a result of the fact that most decimal fractions can’t be
represented exactly as a float. See Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues
and Limitations for more information.
So don't be surprised to get following results in Python 3.2:
>>> round(0.25,1), round(0.35,1), round(0.45,1), round(0.55,1)
(0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.6)
>>> round(0.025,2), round(0.035,2), round(0.045,2), round(0.055,2)
(0.03, 0.04, 0.04, 0.06)

Python 3.x rounds .5 values to a neighbour which is even
assert round(0.5) == 0
assert round(1.5) == 2
assert round(2.5) == 2
import decimal
assert decimal.Decimal('0.5').to_integral_value() == 0
assert decimal.Decimal('1.5').to_integral_value() == 2
assert decimal.Decimal('2.5').to_integral_value() == 2
however, one can change decimal rounding "back" to always round .5 up, if needed :
decimal.getcontext().rounding = decimal.ROUND_HALF_UP
assert decimal.Decimal('0.5').to_integral_value() == 1
assert decimal.Decimal('1.5').to_integral_value() == 2
assert decimal.Decimal('2.5').to_integral_value() == 3
i = int(decimal.Decimal('2.5').to_integral_value()) # to get an int
assert i == 3
assert type(i) is int

I recently had problems with this, too. Hence, I have developed a python 3 module that has 2 functions trueround() and trueround_precision() that address this and give the same rounding behaviour were are used to from primary school (not banker's rounding). Here is the module. Just save the code and copy it in or import it. Note: the trueround_precision module can change the rounding behaviour depending on needs according to the ROUND_CEILING, ROUND_DOWN, ROUND_FLOOR, ROUND_HALF_DOWN, ROUND_HALF_EVEN, ROUND_HALF_UP, ROUND_UP, and ROUND_05UP flags in the decimal module (see that modules documentation for more info). For the functions below, see the docstrings or use help(trueround) and help(trueround_precision) if copied into an interpreter for further documentation.
#! /usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
def trueround(number, places=0):
'''
trueround(number, places)
example:
>>> trueround(2.55, 1) == 2.6
True
uses standard functions with no import to give "normal" behavior to
rounding so that trueround(2.5) == 3, trueround(3.5) == 4,
trueround(4.5) == 5, etc. Use with caution, however. This still has
the same problem with floating point math. The return object will
be type int if places=0 or a float if places=>1.
number is the floating point number needed rounding
places is the number of decimal places to round to with '0' as the
default which will actually return our interger. Otherwise, a
floating point will be returned to the given decimal place.
Note: Use trueround_precision() if true precision with
floats is needed
GPL 2.0
copywrite by Narnie Harshoe <signupnarnie#gmail.com>
'''
place = 10**(places)
rounded = (int(number*place + 0.5if number>=0 else -0.5))/place
if rounded == int(rounded):
rounded = int(rounded)
return rounded
def trueround_precision(number, places=0, rounding=None):
'''
trueround_precision(number, places, rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
Uses true precision for floating numbers using the 'decimal' module in
python and assumes the module has already been imported before calling
this function. The return object is of type Decimal.
All rounding options are available from the decimal module including
ROUND_CEILING, ROUND_DOWN, ROUND_FLOOR, ROUND_HALF_DOWN, ROUND_HALF_EVEN,
ROUND_HALF_UP, ROUND_UP, and ROUND_05UP.
examples:
>>> trueround(2.5, 0) == Decimal('3')
True
>>> trueround(2.5, 0, ROUND_DOWN) == Decimal('2')
True
number is a floating point number or a string type containing a number on
on which to be acted.
places is the number of decimal places to round to with '0' as the default.
Note: if type float is passed as the first argument to the function, it
will first be converted to a str type for correct rounding.
GPL 2.0
copywrite by Narnie Harshoe <signupnarnie#gmail.com>
'''
from decimal import Decimal as dec
from decimal import ROUND_HALF_UP
from decimal import ROUND_CEILING
from decimal import ROUND_DOWN
from decimal import ROUND_FLOOR
from decimal import ROUND_HALF_DOWN
from decimal import ROUND_HALF_EVEN
from decimal import ROUND_UP
from decimal import ROUND_05UP
if type(number) == type(float()):
number = str(number)
if rounding == None:
rounding = ROUND_HALF_UP
place = '1.'
for i in range(places):
place = ''.join([place, '0'])
return dec(number).quantize(dec(place), rounding=rounding)
Hope this helps,
Narnie

Python 2 rounding behaviour in python 3.
Adding 1 at the 15th decimal places.
Accuracy upto 15 digits.
round2=lambda x,y=None: round(x+1e-15,y)
Not right for 175.57. For that it should be added in the 13th decimal place as the number is grown. Switching to Decimal is better than reinventing the same wheel.
from decimal import Decimal, ROUND_HALF_UP
def round2(x, y=2):
prec = Decimal(10) ** -y
return float(Decimal(str(round(x,3))).quantize(prec, rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP))
Not used y

Some cases:
in: Decimal(75.29 / 2).quantize(Decimal('0.01'), rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
in: round(75.29 / 2, 2)
out: 37.65 GOOD
in: Decimal(85.55 / 2).quantize(Decimal('0.01'), rounding=ROUND_HALF_UP)
in: round(85.55 / 2, 2)
out: 42.77 BAD
For fix:
in: round(75.29 / 2 + 0.00001, 2)
out: 37.65 GOOD
in: round(85.55 / 2 + 0.00001, 2)
out: 42.78 GOOD
If you want more decimals, for example 4, you should add (+ 0.0000001).
Work for me.

Sample Reproduction:
['{} => {}'.format(x+0.5, round(x+0.5)) for x in range(10)]
['0.5 => 0', '1.5 => 2', '2.5 => 2', '3.5 => 4', '4.5 => 4', '5.5 => 6', '6.5 => 6', '7.5 => 8', '8.5 => 8', '9.5 => 10']
API: https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#round
States:
Return number rounded to ndigits precision after the decimal point. If
ndigits is omitted or is None, it returns the nearest integer to its
input.
For the built-in types supporting round(), values are rounded to the
closest multiple of 10 to the power minus ndigits; if two multiples
are equally close, rounding is done toward the even choice (so, for
example, both round(0.5) and round(-0.5) are 0, and round(1.5) is 2).
Any integer value is valid for ndigits (positive, zero, or negative).
The return value is an integer if ndigits is omitted or None.
Otherwise the return value has the same type as number.
For a general Python object number, round delegates to
number.round.
Note The behavior of round() for floats can be surprising: for
example, round(2.675, 2) gives 2.67 instead of the expected 2.68. This
is not a bug: it’s a result of the fact that most decimal fractions
can’t be represented exactly as a float. See Floating Point
Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations for more information.
Given this insight you can use some math to resolve it
import math
def my_round(i):
f = math.floor(i)
return f if i - f < 0.5 else f+1
now you can run the same test with my_round instead of round.
['{} => {}'.format(x + 0.5, my_round(x+0.5)) for x in range(10)]
['0.5 => 1', '1.5 => 2', '2.5 => 3', '3.5 => 4', '4.5 => 5', '5.5 => 6', '6.5 => 7', '7.5 => 8', '8.5 => 9', '9.5 => 10']

I propose custom function which would work for a DataFrame:
def dfCustomRound(df, dec):
d = 1 / 10 ** dec
df = round(df, dec + 2)
return (((df % (1 * d)) == 0.5 * d).astype(int) * 0.1 * d * np.sign(df) + df).round(dec)

# round module within numpy when decimal is X.5 will give desired (X+1)
import numpy as np
example_of_some_variable = 3.5
rounded_result_of_variable = np.round(example_of_some_variable,0)
print (rounded_result_of_variable)

Try this code:
def roundup(input):
demo = input if str(input)[-1] != "5" else str(input).replace("5","6")
place = len(demo.split(".")[1])-1
return(round(float(demo),place))
The result will be:
>>> x = roundup(2.5)
>>> x
3.0
>>> x = roundup(2.05)
>>> x
2.1
>>> x = roundup(2.005)
>>> x
2.01
Ooutput you can check here:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/QQUkS.png

The easiest way to round in Python 3.x as taught in school is using an auxiliary variable:
n = 0.1
round(2.5 + n)
And these will be the results of the series 2.0 to 3.0 (in 0.1 steps):
>>> round(2 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.1 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.2 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.3 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.4 + n)
>>> 2
>>> round(2.5 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.6 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.7 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.8 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(2.9 + n)
>>> 3
>>> round(3 + n)
>>> 3

You can control the rounding you using the math.ceil module:
import math
print(math.ceil(2.5))
> 3

How to deal with rounding errors in python math.ceil

The following code snippet is giving 6 as a result:
import math
number = (1 - 0.99) * 500
math.ceil(number)
while the (mathematically) correct answer would be 5. Presumably this is a rounding problem - what is the best way to enforce the correct solution?

Presumably this is a rounding problem
Yes:
>>> 1 - 0.99
0.010000000000000009
>>> (1 - 0.99) * 500
5.000000000000004
what is the best way to enforce the correct solution?
You could use a decimal.Decimal instead of a float:
>>> from decimal import Decimal
>>> import math
>>> (1 - Decimal("0.99")) * 500
Decimal('5.00')
>>> math.ceil((1 - Decimal("0.99")) * 500)
5.0

It's a floating-point error since some numbers can't be represented exactly (infinitely many numbers have to be represented using a finite number of bits -- there has to be some trade-offs). This is why you lose some precision with floating point operations:
>>> 1-0.99
0.010000000000000009
Try Decimal:
>>> from decimal import Decimal as d
>>> result = (1 - d("0.99")) * 500
>>> result
Decimal('5.00')
>>> math.ceil(result)
5.0
Edit
It may look like all the numbers have exact representations:
>>> a = 1.0; b = 0.99; c = 0.01
>>> a, b, c
(1.0, 0.99, 0.01)
So this result might seem surprising:
>>> a - b
0.010000000000000009
>>> a - b == c
False
But it's just the precision and rounding errors that accumulate. Here are the same numbers and calculation, but showing more digits:
>>> def o(f): return "%.30f" % f
>>> o(a)
'1.000000000000000000000000000000'
>>> o(b)
'0.989999999999999991118215802999'
>>> o(c)
'0.010000000000000000208166817117'
>>> o(a-b)
'0.010000000000000008881784197001'

Python 2.7 rounds to 17 significant digits. It is a different model from real math.

The given answers are correct, this is a case of rounding error. However, I think it would be useful to include why this happens.
In hardware, floating point numbers are base 2 (AKA binary). The problem is that most decimal fractions cannot be represented exactly as binary fractions. The translation of that is (in general) floating point numbers are only approximated by the binary floating point numbers actually stored in the machine.

Compare decimals in python

I want to be able to compare Decimals in Python. For the sake of making calculations with money, clever people told me to use Decimals instead of floats, so I did. However, if I want to verify that a calculation produces the expected result, how would I go about it?
>>> a = Decimal(1./3.)
>>> a
Decimal('0.333333333333333314829616256247390992939472198486328125')
>>> b = Decimal(2./3.)
>>> b
Decimal('0.66666666666666662965923251249478198587894439697265625')
>>> a == b
False
>>> a == b - a
False
>>> a == b - Decimal(1./3.)
False
so in this example a = 1/3 and b = 2/3, so obviously b-a = 1/3 = a, however, that cannot be done with Decimals.
I guess a way to do it is to say that I expect the result to be 1/3, and in python i write this as
Decimal(1./3.).quantize(...)
and then I can compare it like this:
(b-a).quantize(...) == Decimal(1./3.).quantize(...)
So, my question is: Is there a cleaner way of doing this? How would you write tests for Decimals?

You are not using Decimal the right way.
>>> from decimal import *
>>> Decimal(1./3.) # Your code
Decimal('0.333333333333333314829616256247390992939472198486328125')
>>> Decimal("1")/Decimal("3") # My code
Decimal('0.3333333333333333333333333333')
In "your code", you actually perform "classic" floating point division -- then convert the result to a decimal. The error introduced by floats is propagated to your Decimal.
In "my code", I do the Decimal division. Producing a correct (but truncated) result up to the last digit.
Concerning the rounding. If you work with monetary data, you must know the rules to be used for rounding in your business. If not so, using Decimal will not automagically solve all your problems. Here is an example: $100 to be share between 3 shareholders.
>>> TWOPLACES = Decimal(10) ** -2
>>> dividende = Decimal("100.00")
>>> john = (dividende / Decimal("3")).quantize(TWOPLACES)
>>> john
Decimal('33.33')
>>> paul = (dividende / Decimal("3")).quantize(TWOPLACES)
>>> georges = (dividende / Decimal("3")).quantize(TWOPLACES)
>>> john+paul+georges
Decimal('99.99')
Oups: missing $.01 (free gift for the bank ?)

Your verbiage states you want to to monetary calculations, minding your round off error. Decimals are a good choice, as they yield EXACT results under addition, subtraction, and multiplication with other Decimals.
Oddly, your example shows working with the fraction "1/3". I've never deposited exactly "one-third of a dollar" in my bank... it isn't possible, as there is no such monetary unit!
My point is if you are doing any DIVISION, then you need to understand what you are TRYING to do, what the organization's policies are on this sort of thing... in which case it should be possible to implement what you want with Decimal quantizing.
Now -- if you DO really want to do division of Decimals, and you want to carry arbitrary "exactness" around, you really don't want to use the Decimal object... You want to use the Fraction object.
With that, your example would work like this:
>>> from fractions import Fraction
>>> a = Fraction(1,3)
>>> a
Fraction(1, 3)
>>> b = Fraction(2,3)
>>> b
Fraction(2, 3)
>>> a == b
False
>>> a == b - a
True
>>> a + b == Fraction(1, 1)
True
>>> 2 * a == b
True
OK, well, even a caveat there: Fraction objects are the ratio of two integers, so you'd need to multiply by the right power of 10 and carry that around ad-hoc.
Sound like too much work? Yes... it probably is!
So, head back to the Decimal object; implement quantization/rounding upon Decimal division and Decimal multiplication.

Floating-point arithmetics is not accurate :
Decimal numbers can be represented exactly. In contrast, numbers like
1.1 and 2.2 do not have exact representations in binary floating point. End users typically would not expect 1.1 + 2.2 to display as
3.3000000000000003 as it does with binary floating point
You have to choose a resolution and truncate everything past it :
>>> from decimal import *
>>> getcontext().prec = 6
>>> Decimal(1) / Decimal(7)
Decimal('0.142857')
>>> getcontext().prec = 28
>>> Decimal(1) / Decimal(7)
Decimal('0.1428571428571428571428571429')
You will obviously get some rounding error which will grow with the number of operations so you have to choose your resolution carefully.

There is another approach that may work for you:
Continue to do all your calculations in floating point values
When you need to compare for equality, use round(val, places)
For example:
>>> a = 1./3
>>> a
0.33333333333333331
>>> b = 2./3
>>> b
0.66666666666666663
>>> b-a
0.33333333333333331
>>> round(a,2) == round(b-a, 2)
True
If you'd like, create a function equals_to_the_cent():
>>> def equals_to_the_cent(a, b):
... return round(a, 2) == round(b, 2)
...
>>> equals_to_the_cent(a, b)
False
>>> equals_to_the_cent(a, b-a)
True
>>> equals_to_the_cent(1-a, b)
True

How to properly truncate a float/decimal to a specific place after the decimal in python?

In Python 2.7.3, this is the current behavior:
>>> 8./9.
0.8888888888888888
>>> '%.1f' % (8./9.)
'0.9'
Same appears to be true for Decimals:
>>> from decimal import Decimal
>>> Decimal(8) / Decimal(9)
Decimal('0.8888888888888888888888888889')
>>> '%.1f' % (Decimal(8) / Decimal(9))
'0.9'
I would have expected truncation, however, it appears to round. So my options to truncating to the tenths place?
FYI I ask because my current solution seems hacky (but maybe its the best practice?) as it make a string of the result, finds the period and simply finds X digits after the period that I want.

You are looking for the math.floor() function instead:
>>> import math
>>> math.floor(8./9. * 10) / 10
0.8

So my options to truncating to the tenths place?
The Decimal.quantize() method rounds a number to a fixed exponent and it provides control over the rounding mode:
>>> from decimal import Decimal, ROUND_FLOOR
>>> Decimal('0.9876').quantize(Decimal('0.1'), rounding=ROUND_FLOOR)
Decimal('0.9')
Don't use math.floor on Decimal values because it first coerces them to a binary float introducing representation error and lost precision:
>>> x = Decimal('1.999999999999999999998')
>>> x.quantize(Decimal('0.1'), rounding=ROUND_FLOOR)
Decimal('1.9')
>>> math.floor(x * 10) / 10
2.0

Multiply by 10, then floor the value.
In some language:
float f = 1/3;
print(f) //Prints 0,3333333333
float q = Math.floor(f*10)/10
print(q) //Prints 0,3