CODEWITHSUNDEEP
swift
Steve
Steve

Reputation: 592

Division returns something different in functions

Paste the following code into a playground:

5.0 / 100

func test(anything: Float) -> Float {
    return anything / 100
}

test(5.0)

The first line should return 0.05 as expected. The function test returns 0.0500000007450581. Why?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 39

Answers (1)

vacawama
vacawama

Reputation: 154563

It has nothing to do with functions. Your first example is using type Double which represents floating point numbers more precisely by using 64 bits. If you were to change your second example to:

func test(anything: Double) -> Double {
    return anything / 100
}

test(5.0)

You would get the result you expect. Float uses only 32 bits of data, thus it provides a less precise representation of the number. Also, floating point numbers are stored as binary values and frequently are only an approximation of the base 10 representation. That is why 0.05 is showing up as 0.0500000007450581 when stored as a Float.

Upvotes: 3

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