python - How can I format a float using matplotlib's LaTeX formatter?

Question

I have a number in my python script that I want to use as part of the title of a plot in matplotlib. Is there a function that converts a float to a formatted TeX string?

Basically,

str(myFloat)

returns

3.5e+20

but I want

$3.5 imes 10^{20}$

or at least for matplotlib to format the float like the second string would be formatted. I'm also stuck using python 2.4, so code that runs in old versions is especially appreciated.

Answer 1

With old stype formatting:

print r'$%s imes 10^{%s}$' % tuple('3.5e+20'.split('e+'))

with new format:

print r'${} imes 10^{{{}}}$'.format(*'3.5e+20'.split('e+'))