code: def floats(s):
      
      try:
          return float(s)
      except ValueError:
          s = re.sub(r'(\d)\s*\(\d+(\.\d+)?\)', r'\1', s)        # Remove bracketed numbers from end
          s = re.sub(r'(\d)\s*±\s*\d+(\.\d+)?', r'\1', s)        # Remove uncertainties from end
          s = s.rstrip('\'"+-=<>/,.:;!?)]}…∼~≈×*_≥≤')             # Remove trailing punctuation
          s = s.lstrip('\'"+=<>/([{∼~≈×*_≥≤£$€#§')                # Remove leading punctuation
          s = s.replace(',', '')                                 # Remove commas
          s = ''.join(s.split())                                  # Strip whitespace
          s = re.sub(r'(\d)\s*[×x]\s*10\^?(-?\d)', r'\1e\2', s)  # Convert scientific notation
          return float(s)
docs: Convert string to float. Handles more string formats that the standard python conversion.