Rounding to a Custom Interval in Python

In Python, the built-in round() function is commonly used for rounding numeric values. However, it operates on a base-10 rounding scheme, which may not always be suitable for specific requirements. For instance, if you want to round numbers to the nearest multiple of 5, the standard round() function is not appropriate.

To address this issue, a custom function can be created that rounds values to a specific interval. For example, to round numbers to the nearest multiple of 5, we can define the following function:

def myround(x, base=5):
    return base * round(x / base)

This function takes two parameters: x is the number to be rounded, and base is the custom rounding interval (defaulting to 5). The function first divides x by base to obtain an integer quotient. This ensures that the result is rounded to the nearest multiple of base. Finally, the result is multiplied by base to compensate for the initial division.

Here's an example of how the myround() function works:

print(myround(10))  # 10
print(myround(12))  # 10
print(myround(13))  # 15
print(myround(14))  # 15
print(myround(16))  # 15
print(myround(18))  # 20

As demonstrated in the output, the function rounds the given numbers to the nearest multiple of 5. This custom rounding behavior allows you to tailor the rounding process to specific requirements without relying on the standard functionality of the round() function.