# Why does scientific notation break the range function?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-scientific-notation-break-the-range-function/80014>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Created:** [April 25, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-scientific-notation-break-the-range-function/80014 "2022-04-25T20:46:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chadagreene](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chadagreene/32/34924_2.png) [@chadagreene](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chadagreene)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/why-does-scientific-notation-break-the-range-function/80014/1 "2022-04-25T20:46:57Z")

</div>

This line of code creates a 1000 element array of values, evenly spaced from 0 to 10:

```julia
x = range(0,10,length=1000)

```

The code above works perfectly. This line of code, however, throws an error:

```julia
x = range(0,10,length=1e3)

```

As I understand it, `1000` should be the same thing as `1e3`, and I’ve checked to make sure Julia knows they’re equal:

```julia
julia> 1000==1e3
true

```

Can anyone help me understand why `length=1000` works, while `length=1e3` throws an error? Here’s the error message it produces, which to me is 30 lines of cryptic nonsense:

```julia
TypeError: in keyword argument length, expected Union{Nothing, Integer}, got a value of type Float64

Stacktrace:
  [1] top-level scope
    @ ~/Documents/coursework/Untitled-1.ipynb:1
  [2] eval
    @ ./boot.jl:373 [inlined]
  [3] include_string(mapexpr::typeof(REPL.softscope), mod::Module, code::String, filename::String)
    @ Base ./loading.jl:1196
  [4] #invokelatest#2
    @ ./essentials.jl:716 [inlined]
  [5] invokelatest
    @ ./essentials.jl:714 [inlined]
  [6] (::VSCodeServer.var"#164#165"{VSCodeServer.NotebookRunCellArguments, String})()
    @ VSCodeServer ~/.vscode/extensions/julialang.language-julia-1.6.17/scripts/packages/VSCodeServer/src/serve_notebook.jl:19
  [7] withpath(f::VSCodeServer.var"#164#165"{VSCodeServer.NotebookRunCellArguments, String}, path::String)
    @ VSCodeServer ~/.vscode/extensions/julialang.language-julia-1.6.17/scripts/packages/VSCodeServer/src/repl.jl:184
  [8] notebook_runcell_request(conn::VSCodeServer.JSONRPC.JSONRPCEndpoint{Base.PipeEndpoint, Base.PipeEndpoint}, params::VSCodeServer.NotebookRunCellArguments)
    @ VSCodeServer ~/.vscode/extensions/julialang.language-julia-1.6.17/scripts/packages/VSCodeServer/src/serve_notebook.jl:13
  [9] dispatch_msg(x::VSCodeServer.JSONRPC.JSONRPCEndpoint{Base.PipeEndpoint, Base.PipeEndpoint}, dispatcher::VSCodeServer.JSONRPC.MsgDispatcher, msg::Dict{String, Any})
    @ VSCodeServer.JSONRPC ~/.vscode/extensions/julialang.language-julia-1.6.17/scripts/packages/JSONRPC/src/typed.jl:67
 [10] serve_notebook(pipename::String, outputchannel_logger::Base.CoreLogging.SimpleLogger; crashreporting_pipename::String)
    @ VSCodeServer ~/.vscode/extensions/julialang.language-julia-1.6.17/scripts/packages/VSCodeServer/src/serve_notebook.jl:136
 [11] top-level scope
    @ ~/.vscode/extensions/julialang.language-julia-1.6.17/scripts/notebook/notebook.jl:32
 [12] include(mod::Module, _path::String)
    @ Base ./Base.jl:418
 [13] exec_options(opts::Base.JLOptions)
    @ Base ./client.jl:292
 [14] _start()
    @ Base ./client.jl:495

```

---

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