Python math.nan Attribute
- Syntax
-
Example 1: Use
math.nan
to Get the Value ofnan
-
Example 2: Use
math.nan
to Check if a Value IsNaN

The Python programming language offers a library, math
, that contains implementation for various mathematical operations such as trigonometric functions and logarithmic functions.
In computer science, a NaN
or Not a Number
is a numeric value that can’t be defined or represented. For example, zero divided by zero is undefined; hence, it is considered a NaN
.
This article will discuss the NaN
value in the math
module.
Syntax
math.nan
Parameters
Since it is a variable, it does not accept any parameters.
Returns
Since it is a variable, it does not return anything like a method. It stores the floating point Not a Number
or NaN
value.
Its value is equivalent to float("nan")
, but the two are not equal.
Example 1: Use math.nan
to Get the Value of nan
import math
print(math.nan)
Output:
nan
Example 2: Use math.nan
to Check if a Value Is NaN
import math
print(math.nan)
print(float("nan"))
print(math.isnan(math.nan))
print(math.isnan(float("nan")))
print(math.isnan(23))
print(math.isnan(44462.244))
print(math.isnan(False))
Output:
nan
nan
True
True
False
False
False
The Python code above depicts how we can confirm if a number is NaN
or not. To check if a value is NaN
or not, we can use the math.isnan()
method.
This method returns True
if the input is a Nan
; otherwise, a False
. From the output, we can easily infer that math.nan
and float("nan")
are NaN
values, while other inputs, namely, integers, floating-point values, and Boolean values, are not NaN
values.