Significant figures calculation

[Jerry Hill]

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 4:46 PM, Steven D'Aprano
<steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
> Really? It works for me.
>
>>>> import decimal
>>>> D = decimal.Decimal
>>>> decimal.getcontext().prec = 2
>>>>
>>>> D('32.01') + D('5.325') + D('12')
> Decimal('49')

I'm curious.  Is there a way to get the number of significant digits
for a particular Decimal instance?  I spent a few minutes browsing
through the docs, and didn't see anything obvious.  I was thinking
about setting the precision dynamically within a function, based on
the significance of the inputs.

-- 
Jerry