diff --git a/cql3/functions/castas_fcts.cc b/cql3/functions/castas_fcts.cc
index 9076558a17..e5458d194b 100644
--- a/cql3/functions/castas_fcts.cc
+++ b/cql3/functions/castas_fcts.cc
@@ -88,16 +88,13 @@ static data_value castas_fctn_simple(data_value from) {
 template<typename ToType>
 static data_value castas_fctn_from_decimal_to_float(data_value from) {
     auto val_from = value_cast<big_decimal>(from);
-    boost::multiprecision::cpp_int ten(10);
-    boost::multiprecision::cpp_rational r = val_from.unscaled_value();
-    r /= boost::multiprecision::pow(ten, val_from.scale());
-    return static_cast<ToType>(r);
+    return static_cast<ToType>(val_from.as_rational());
 }
 
 static utils::multiprecision_int from_decimal_to_cppint(const data_value& from) {
     const auto& val_from = value_cast<big_decimal>(from);
-    boost::multiprecision::cpp_int ten(10);
-    return boost::multiprecision::cpp_int(val_from.unscaled_value() / boost::multiprecision::pow(ten, val_from.scale()));
+    auto r = val_from.as_rational();
+    return utils::multiprecision_int(numerator(r)/denominator(r));
 }
 
 template<typename ToType>
diff --git a/lua.cc b/lua.cc
index 461dcc9469..9e873e066c 100644
--- a/lua.cc
+++ b/lua.cc
@@ -262,14 +262,12 @@ static auto visit_lua_raw_value(lua_State* l, int index, Func&& f) {
 
 template <typename Func>
 static auto visit_decimal(const big_decimal &v, Func&& f) {
-    boost::multiprecision::cpp_int ten(10);
-    const auto& dividend = v.unscaled_value();
-    auto divisor = boost::multiprecision::pow(ten, v.scale());
+    boost::multiprecision::cpp_rational r = v.as_rational();
+    const boost::multiprecision::cpp_int& dividend = numerator(r);
+    const boost::multiprecision::cpp_int& divisor = denominator(r);
     if (dividend % divisor == 0) {
-        return f(utils::multiprecision_int(boost::multiprecision::cpp_int(dividend/divisor)));
+        return f(utils::multiprecision_int(dividend/divisor));
     }
-    boost::multiprecision::cpp_rational r = dividend;
-    r /= divisor;
     return f(r.convert_to<double>());
 }
 
diff --git a/test/boost/big_decimal_test.cc b/test/boost/big_decimal_test.cc
index d5ad87eee7..c2b3b60f2c 100644
--- a/test/boost/big_decimal_test.cc
+++ b/test/boost/big_decimal_test.cc
@@ -157,6 +157,13 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_big_decimal_div) {
     test_div("-0.25", 10, "-0.02");
     test_div("-0.26", 10, "-0.03");
     test_div("-10E10", 3, "-3E10");
+
+    // Document a small oddity, 1e1 has -1 decimal places, so dividing
+    // it by 2 produces 0. This is not the behavior in cassandra, but
+    // scylla doesn't expose arithmetic operations, so this doesn't
+    // seem to be visible from CQL.
+    test_div("10", 2, "5");
+    test_div("1e1", 2, "0e1");
 }
 
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(test_big_decimal_assignadd) {
diff --git a/test/boost/castas_fcts_test.cc b/test/boost/castas_fcts_test.cc
index 812ad9f6b3..d5d2c6b025 100644
--- a/test/boost/castas_fcts_test.cc
+++ b/test/boost/castas_fcts_test.cc
@@ -142,6 +142,19 @@ SEASTAR_TEST_CASE(test_decimal_to_bigint) {
     });
 }
 
+SEASTAR_TEST_CASE(test_decimal_to_float) {
+    return do_with_cql_env_thread([&](auto& e) {
+        e.execute_cql("CREATE TABLE test (key text primary key, value decimal)").get();
+        e.execute_cql("INSERT INTO test (key, value) VALUES ('k1', 10)").get();
+        e.execute_cql("INSERT INTO test (key, value) VALUES ('k2', 1e1)").get();
+        auto v = e.execute_cql("SELECT key, CAST(value as float) from test").get0();
+        assert_that(v).is_rows().with_rows_ignore_order({
+            {{serialized("k1")}, {serialized(float(10))}},
+            {{serialized("k2")}, {serialized(float(10))}},
+        });
+    });
+}
+
 SEASTAR_TEST_CASE(test_varint_to_bigint) {
     return do_with_cql_env_thread([&](auto& e) {
         e.execute_cql("CREATE TABLE test (key text primary key, value varint)").get();
diff --git a/utils/big_decimal.cc b/utils/big_decimal.cc
index 71162f32b0..cdbf644761 100644
--- a/utils/big_decimal.cc
+++ b/utils/big_decimal.cc
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ uint64_t from_varint_to_integer(const utils::multiprecision_int& varint) {
     return static_cast<uint64_t>(~static_cast<uint64_t>(0) & boost::multiprecision::cpp_int(varint));
 }
 
+big_decimal::big_decimal() : big_decimal(0, 0) {}
+big_decimal::big_decimal(int32_t scale, boost::multiprecision::cpp_int unscaled_value)
+    : _scale(scale), _unscaled_value(std::move(unscaled_value)) {}
 
 big_decimal::big_decimal(sstring_view text)
 {
@@ -82,6 +85,20 @@ big_decimal::big_decimal(sstring_view text)
     _scale += fraction.size();
 }
 
+boost::multiprecision::cpp_rational big_decimal::as_rational() const {
+    boost::multiprecision::cpp_int ten(10);
+    auto unscaled_value = static_cast<const boost::multiprecision::cpp_int&>(_unscaled_value);
+    boost::multiprecision::cpp_rational r = unscaled_value;
+    int32_t abs_scale = std::abs(_scale);
+    auto pow = boost::multiprecision::pow(ten, abs_scale);
+    if (_scale < 0) {
+        r *= pow;
+    } else {
+        r /= pow;
+    }
+    return r;
+}
+
 sstring big_decimal::to_string() const
 {
     if (!_unscaled_value) {
diff --git a/utils/big_decimal.hh b/utils/big_decimal.hh
index 34cb397a05..bcfb3e0022 100644
--- a/utils/big_decimal.hh
+++ b/utils/big_decimal.hh
@@ -39,13 +39,12 @@ public:
     };
 
     explicit big_decimal(sstring_view text);
-    big_decimal() : big_decimal(0, 0) {}
-    big_decimal(int32_t scale, boost::multiprecision::cpp_int unscaled_value)
-        : _scale(scale), _unscaled_value(unscaled_value)
-    { }
+    big_decimal();
+    big_decimal(int32_t scale, boost::multiprecision::cpp_int unscaled_value);
 
     int32_t scale() const { return _scale; }
     const boost::multiprecision::cpp_int& unscaled_value() const { return _unscaled_value; }
+    boost::multiprecision::cpp_rational as_rational() const;
 
     sstring to_string() const;