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My numerical calculation gives a list of numbers

list = {-0.36, 0.2499999999999992, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36},

I want to delete 0.25 which appears as 0.2499999999999992 in the list due to the numerical process. How can I remove such a number? I tried

DeleteCases[Chop@list, {0.25}]

but did not work.

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    $\begingroup$ It's not really "highly accurate" so much as not showing a more desired value. Do you want to remove it entirely, or just replace it with 0.25? $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Lichtblau
    Commented Nov 27, 2023 at 16:59
  • $\begingroup$ What do you want to happen if the list also contains 0.25 or other numbers such as 0.149999999999992? For example, what is the desired output of list2 = {-0.36, 0.2499999999999992, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36, 0.25, 0.149999999999992}? $\endgroup$
    – user1066
    Commented Nov 28, 2023 at 5:02
  • $\begingroup$ @user1066, I want to remove all numerical numbers that are almost 0.25 e.x 0.2499999999999991, 0.2499999999999992, or exactly 0.25. It would be nice also if the new list list2 also showed only a few significant numbers say 4 such that 0.149999999999992 becomes 0.15 $\endgroup$
    – MMA13
    Commented Nov 28, 2023 at 6:02
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    $\begingroup$ I think you are Making A Mistake. It is not accuracy that you are removing — the extra digits is a consequence of how floating-point numbers work. In other words, you are arbitrarily tossing data from your list. Most likely the correct way of handling this is simply filtering the numbers by rounding to a certain precision (such as to hundredths), but only for display. Care must be taken that this rounding pass does not propagate elsewhere or you will introduce bias into your dataset! $\endgroup$
    – Dúthomhas
    Commented Nov 28, 2023 at 13:47
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    $\begingroup$ One typically does this using a numeric comparison and a threshold. Here are a couple of variants. In[226]:= list = {-0.36, 0.2499999999999992, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}; DeleteCases[list, vv_ /; Abs[vv - 1/4] < 1/1000] Out[227]= {-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36} In[229]:= ResourceFunction["Discard"][list, Abs[# - 1/4] < 1/1000 &] Out[229]= {-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36} $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Lichtblau
    Commented Nov 28, 2023 at 15:46

3 Answers 3

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Not very elegant, but since you explicitly mention that you want to remove 0.2499999999999992

list /. (0.2499999999999992 -> Nothing)

or if you want to delete 0.25 explicitly

Round[list, 0.01] /. (0.25 -> Nothing)

and get

{-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}

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$\begingroup$ 
list = {-0.36, 0.2499999999999992, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}

Delete[list, 
 Position[Round[list, 0.01] - list, Except[0.], {1, ∞}, 
  Heads -> False]]

{-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}

Note

It has the same accuracy and precision as other numbers in the list.

Accuracy /@ list
Precision /@ list

{16.3983, 16.5566, 16.6324, 16.3983, 16.3983} {MachinePrecision, MachinePrecision, MachinePrecision, \ MachinePrecision, MachinePrecision}

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    $\begingroup$ It's a (+1) from me of course, just a comment: you can forget Heads -> False and just use // List at the end. Very minor comment actually $\endgroup$
    – bmf
    Commented Nov 27, 2023 at 8:46
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Using Cases and FractionalPart:

Cases[If[Abs[#] < 1, FractionalPart[#], #] & /@ list, x_ /; x != 0.25]

(*{-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}*)

Or using Select:

Select[If[Abs[#] < 1, FractionalPart[#], #] & /@ list, # != 0.25 &]

(*{-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}*)

Or using DeleteCases:

DeleteCases[list, x_ /; x == 0.25]

(*{-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}*)

Or using ReplaceAll:

list /. x_ /; x == 0.25 :> Nothing

(*{-0.36, -0.21, 0.36, 0.36}*)
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