[Numpy-discussion] Floor divison on int returns float

[Eric Firing]

On 2016/04/04 9:23 AM, T J wrote:
> I'm on NumPy 1.10.4 (mkl).
>
>  >>> np.uint(3) // 2   # 1.0
>  >>> 3 // 2   # 1
>
> Is this behavior expected? It's certainly not desired from my
> perspective. If this is not a bug, could someone explain the rationale
> to me.
>
> Thanks.

I agree that it's almost always undesirable; one would reasonably expect 
some sort of int.  Here's what I think is going on:

The odd behavior occurs only with np.uint, which is np.uint64, and when 
the denominator is a signed int.  The problem is that if the denominator 
is negative, the result will be negative, so it can't have the same type 
as the first numerator.  Furthermore, if the denominator is -1, the 
result will be minus the numerator, and that can't be represented by 
np.uint or np.int.  Therefore the result is returned as np.float64.  The 
promotion rules are based on what *could* happen in an operation, not on 
what *is* happening in a given instance.

Eric