does the "%.2f" part of the code specify that only the first two decimal places should be returned?

Yes.
More strictly speaking the returned value will be the actual value, rounded to two decimal places in accordance with the rule "round to nearest, ties to even". 
C:\>perl -le "printf '%.2f', 0.245;"
0.24
C:\>perl -le "printf '%.2f', 0.255;"
0.26

[download]
Cheers,
Rob

In reply to Re^3: Calculations using values from two different hashes by syphilis
in thread Calculations using values from two different hashes by Maire

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