title: Convert string (in scientific notation) to float
body: <p>I'm trying to import a large .csv file containing text and numbers using <code>genfromtxt</code> in numpy.  I'm only interested in two columns. I have most of the import sorted out with:</p>
  <pre><code>def importfile(root):
      data = root.entry.get()
      atw = np.genfromtxt(data, delimiter=&quot;,&quot;,
                          skip_header=1,
                          skip_footer=2,
                          autostrip=True,
                          usecols=(25,26),
                          dtype=(&quot;|S10&quot;))
      elem = atw[:,0]
      concs = atw[:,1]
          
      print(elem)
      print(concs)
  </code></pre>
  <p>With output for <code>elem</code> and <code>concs</code> respectively:</p>
  <pre><code>['Na2O' 'MgO' 'Al2O3' 'SiO2' 'P2O5' 'SO3' 'Cl' 'K2O' 'CaO' 'TiO2' 'Cr2O3'
  'MnO' 'FeO' 'NiO' 'Cu2O' 'ZnO' 'Ga2O3' 'SrO' 'Y2O3']
  
  ['3.76E+00' '1.31E+01' '1.14E+01' '4.04E+01' '1.24E+00' '5.89E-02'
  '2.43E-02' '1.53E+00' '1.49E+01' '2.87E+00' '6.05E-02' '1.96E-01'
  '1.17E+01' '3.69E-02' '8.73E-03' '1.39E-02' '1.93E-03' '1.88E-01'
  '5.58E-03']
  </code></pre>
  <p>I have tried many different things for converting the <code>concs</code> string into a float, but it doesn't seem to like the fact that the concs are in scientific notation... is there a way to turn the <code>concs</code> values into a float?</p>