Why array functions matter in PHP - See It in Action

Why array functions matter

📖 Scenario: Imagine you run a small online store. You have a list of product prices, and you want to quickly find the cheapest product, the most expensive product, and the total cost of all products. Doing this manually is slow and can cause mistakes. PHP array functions help you do this easily and correctly.

🎯 Goal: You will create a PHP script that uses array functions to find the minimum price, maximum price, and total price from a list of product prices.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an array called prices with the exact values: 15.99, 23.50, 9.99, 29.99, 12.49

Create a variable called minPrice to store the minimum price using a PHP array function

Create a variable called maxPrice to store the maximum price using a PHP array function

Create a variable called totalPrice to store the sum of all prices using a PHP array function

Print the values of minPrice, maxPrice, and totalPrice with clear labels

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Online stores, budgeting apps, and any program that needs to analyze lists of numbers use array functions to quickly find important values.

💼 Career

Knowing how to use array functions is a basic skill for PHP developers working on web applications, data processing, and automation.

1

Create the prices array

Create an array called prices with these exact values: 15.99, 23.50, 9.99, 29.99, 12.49.

PHP

<?php

// Create the prices array with the given values
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets [] to create an array and separate values with commas.

2

Find the minimum, maximum, and total prices

Create a variable called minPrice and set it to the minimum value in $prices using the min() function. Then create maxPrice using max(), and totalPrice using array_sum().

PHP

<?php

$prices = [15.99, 23.50, 9.99, 29.99, 12.49];

// Use min(), max(), and array_sum() to find minPrice, maxPrice, and totalPrice
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the PHP functions min(), max(), and array_sum() with the $prices array.

3

Print the results

Print the values of minPrice, maxPrice, and totalPrice each on its own line with labels: "Minimum price:", "Maximum price:", and "Total price:".

PHP

<?php

$prices = [15.99, 23.50, 9.99, 29.99, 12.49];

$minPrice = min($prices);
$maxPrice = max($prices);
$totalPrice = array_sum($prices);

// Print the results with labels
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print() or echo to show the values with text labels.

4

Final check and run

Run the full PHP script to see the output showing the minimum, maximum, and total prices.

PHP

<?php

$prices = [15.99, 23.50, 9.99, 29.99, 12.49];

$minPrice = min($prices);
$maxPrice = max($prices);
$totalPrice = array_sum($prices);

print("Minimum price: $minPrice\n");
print("Maximum price: $maxPrice\n");
print("Total price: $totalPrice\n");

// Run the script to see the output
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Make sure your script prints the correct values exactly as shown.