Question

$query = mysql_query("SELECT sum(rating) FROM stars WHERE post_id = 20");
echo $query;

It outputs:

Resource id #3

instead of 8, which is what the actual sum is.

Answer 1

$query, after executing the query doesn’t have just a number. It’ll have a Resource just like any other query you would execute.

In order to actually get the result, treat it like you would treat any other resource:

$result = mysql_fetch_array($query);
echo $result[0];