So, converting a float to a decimal yields a TypeError. You first have to convert to a string, then a decimal.

float_to_decimal_bad.py

In [14]: Decimal(2.0 * 3.0)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)

/Users/oldbrad/Downloads/carmenproject/<ipython console> in <module>()

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/decimal.py in __new__(cls, value, context)
    650         if isinstance(value, float):
    651             raise TypeError("Cannot convert float to Decimal.  " +
--> 652                             "First convert the float to a string")
    653 
    654         raise TypeError("Cannot convert %r to Decimal" % value)

TypeError: Cannot convert float to Decimal.  First convert the float to a string

In [15]: Decimal(str(2.0 * 3.0))
Out[15]: Decimal('6.0')

Thanks you so much! This helped a lot!