Imports System
Public Class Test
Public Shared Sub Main()
Dim f As Single = 972.1459f
Dim int_part = Int(f)
Dim total_digits_minus_one As Integer = Int(Math.Log10(int_part))
Dim first_digit As Integer = Int((int_part / Math.Pow(10, total_digits_minus_one)))
Console.Write(first_digit)
End Sub
End Class
' run:
'
' 9
'