Python is one of the most simple and powerful programming languages in the world. The insane number of libraries both third-party and in-house allows programmers to infuse a lot of functionality in their code natively. 

That said, general programming errors still pop up from time to time. In this article, we’re talking about a Math range error in Python.

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What causes this error?

Python uses operands for mathematical operations that have declared data types having their own specific maximum limits. When a variable exceeds that limit, you’ll end up running into this limit overflow error. 

Also read: How to solve the Tower of Hanoi problem using Python?

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How to fix this?

Here are two fixes you can try out. 

Check your inputs

The easiest thing you can do to avoid this error is put in a simple if condition to check the value of the input for any overflow errors before you use the value for mathematical operations. You’re essentially using a condition to calculate the value of the exponent before it can trigger an error in the code. 

import math
val = 1000
if val<50:
	answer=math.exp(val)
	print(answer)
else:	
	print("Input value is greater than allowed limit")

This way you can raise an error to the user before the program runs into any problems and throws a runtime error halting the entire script. 

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Use a try-except block

This solution is the same in principle as the previous one but instead of using an if conditional statement, you use a try-except block instead to catch the error before it happens and use it to either trigger a different block in your code or ask the user for another input. 

try:
    ans = math.exp(200000)
except OverflowError:
    ans = float('inf')

It’s just a slightly more elegant solution where the exception is handled properly and a separate code block is triggered based on whether or not the value overflows the specified data type. 

Also read: Fix: Python was not found; run without arguments to install