code: public static Float toFloat(Object value) {
          if (value == null) {
              return null;
          } else if (value instanceof Float) {
              return (Float) value;
          } else if (value instanceof Number) {
              return ((Number) value).floatValue();
          } else {
              return Float.valueOf(value.toString().trim());
          }
      }
docs: Converts value to Float if it can. If value is a Float, it is returned, if it is a Number, it is
  promoted to Float and then returned, in all other cases, it converts the value to String,
  then tries to parse Float from it.
  
  @param value value to be converted to Float.
  @return value converted to Float.