Float type and precision in PHP - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Float type and precision

📖 Scenario: You are working on a simple billing system that needs to handle prices with decimal points accurately.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to create float numbers, set precision, and display float values correctly in PHP.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create float variables with exact values

Set a precision variable for decimal places

Format float numbers using the precision

Print the formatted float values

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Handling prices and money values in billing or shopping cart systems requires careful control of decimal places to avoid errors.

💼 Career

Many programming jobs require working with float numbers and formatting them correctly for display or calculations, especially in finance and e-commerce.

1

Create float variables

Create two float variables called price1 and price2 with the exact values 10.456 and 20.789 respectively.

PHP

# Create float variables price1 and price2 with values 10.456 and 20.789
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the $ sign to create variables and assign decimal numbers directly.

2

Set precision variable

Create an integer variable called precision and set it to 2 to represent two decimal places.

PHP

<?php
$price1 = 10.456;
$price2 = 20.789;
# Create an integer variable precision and set it to 2
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a simple integer variable to store the number of decimal places you want.

3

Format float numbers using precision

Create two new variables called formattedPrice1 and formattedPrice2. Use the number_format function with price1, price2, and precision to format the prices to two decimal places.

PHP

<?php
$price1 = 10.456;
$price2 = 20.789;
$precision = 2;
# Format price1 and price2 to two decimal places using number_format
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The number_format function formats a float to a string with the specified number of decimals.

4

Print formatted float values

Print the values of formattedPrice1 and formattedPrice2 each on a new line using echo.

PHP

<?php
$price1 = 10.456;
$price2 = 20.789;
$precision = 2;
$formattedPrice1 = number_format($price1, $precision);
$formattedPrice2 = number_format($price2, $precision);
# Print formattedPrice1 and formattedPrice2 each on a new line
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use echo and add a newline character \n to print each value on its own line.