Question

I am trying to use values from an array in the following equation:

for x in range(len(prof)):
    PB = 2.25 * (1 - math.pow(math.e, (-3.7(prof[x])/2.25))) * (math.e, (0/2.25)))

When I run I receive the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Users/cwpapine/Desktop/1mPro_Chlavg", line 240, in <module>
    PB = float(2.25 * (1 - math.pow(math.e, (-3.7(prof[x])/2.25))) * (math.e, (0/2.25)))
TypeError: 'float' object is not callable

What is the cause, and how can the problem be resolved?

Answer 1

There is an operator missing, likely a *:

-3.7 need_something_here (prof[x])

The “is not callable” occurs because the parenthesis — and lack of operator which would have switched the parenthesis into precedence operators — make Python try to call the result of -3.7 (a float) as a function, which is not allowed.

The parenthesis are also not needed in this case, the following may be sufficient/correct:

-3.7 * prof[x]

---

As Legolas points out, there are other things which may need to be addressed:

2.25 * (1 - math.pow(math.e, (-3.7(prof[x])/2.25))) * (math.e, (0/2.25)))
                                  ^-- op missing
                                                    extra parenthesis --^
               valid but questionable float*tuple --^
                                     expression yields 0.0 always --^