Question

I have two numbers which are supposed to be equal to return a difference, I doesn’t make sense…

The only way to be able to reproduce this problem here I had to base64_encode my arrays,

here is the script:

basically the script will fix numbers like “1 234,5” to “1234.5” and does calculations, but at the ends it returns

            First Number: 4784.47
            Second Number: 4784.47
            Difference: 9.0949470177293E-13

I just don’t understand????????

---

            $aa = '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';

---

            $tt = 'YTozOntzOjE2OiJTdW1tYXJ5SXRlbU5ldHRvIjtzOjg6IjMgODI3LDU4IjtzOjE0OiJTdW1tYXJ5SXRlbVZBVCI7czo2OiI5NTYsODkiO3M6MTc6IlN1bW1hcnlJdGVtQnJ1dHRvIjtzOjg6IjQgNzg0LDQ3Ijt9';

---

            $a = unserialize(base64_decode($aa));
            $t = unserialize(base64_decode($tt));


            function calculate_call_fees($a,$t){

                $or_item = 0;

                foreach($a as $k => $r) {
                    $or_item += fix_num($r['GrossAmount']); 
                }        

                $br =  fix_num($t['SummaryItemBrutto']);   

                if($br>$or_item){
                    $diff = $br-$or_item;
                } else {
                    $diff = 0;
                }

                echo 'First Number: ' . $br.'<br/>';
                echo 'Second Number: ' . $or_item.'<br />';
                echo 'Difference: ' . $diff.'<br />';

                echo '<hr />';
                echo '<pre>';
                print_r($a);
                echo '</pre>';
                echo '<hr />';
                echo '<pre>';
                print_r($t);
                echo '</pre>';    

            }

            function fix_num($n){
                return floatval(str_replace(Array(" ",","),array("","."),$n));
            }

            calculate_call_fees($a,$t);

Answer 1

Using “equals” comparison with floating point numbers is dangerous because of floating point limited precision – you’re liable to get small differences due to the rounding involved.

Instead, if you want to see if two floating point numbers are “the same”, just see if their difference is below a certain threshold:

if( abs($a - $b) < 0.00000001) {
    // a and b are "equal"
}