Float number and zero comparison - php

I have a simple PHP task, to sum all number's digits.
$number = 345;
$digit = $number;
$sum = 0;
while ($number > 0) {
$digit = $number % 10;
$sum += $digit;
$number /= 10;
}
This solution would give correct result. However, I'm aware that it will enter loop way more than three times. And eventually it will become equal to zero.
Why is that happening? At what time, floats become zero? Just by following math principles, this would be an infinite loop, right? And since there are more than 3, 4 and 5 digits, how end result is not greater than 12 (even for that little amount).
P.S. I know that I should solve this by rounding $number value for example, but I'm just curios about floats and its behaviour.

When you update number you should really be doing this
$number -= $digit;
$number /= 10;
Floats are platform specific, check out this link
http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.float.php

Related

Why is the last number (1) printed?

The code:
<?php
$start = 0;
$stop = 1;
$step = ($stop - $start)/10;
$i = $start + $step;
while ($i < $stop) {
echo($i . "<br/>");
$i += $step;
}
?>
The output:
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1 <-- notice the 1 printed when it shouldn't
Created a fiddle
One more: if you set $start = 1 and $stop = 2 it works fine.
Using: php 5.3.27
Why is the 1 printed?
Because not only float math is flawed, sometimes its representation is flawed too - and that's the case here.
You don't actually get 0.1, 0.2, ... - and that's quite easy to check:
$start = 0;
$stop = 1;
$step = ($stop - $start)/10;
$i = $start + $step;
while ($i < $stop) {
print(number_format($i, 32) . "<br />");
$i += $step;
}
The only difference here, as you see, is that echo replaced with number_format call. But the results are drastically different:
0.10000000000000000555111512312578
0.20000000000000001110223024625157
0.30000000000000004440892098500626
0.40000000000000002220446049250313
0.50000000000000000000000000000000
0.59999999999999997779553950749687
0.69999999999999995559107901499374
0.79999999999999993338661852249061
0.89999999999999991118215802998748
0.99999999999999988897769753748435
See? Only one time it was 0.5 actually - because that number can be stored in a float container. All the others were only approximations.
How to solve this? Well, one radical approach is using not floats, but integers in similar situations. It's easy to notice that have you done it this way...
$start = 0;
$stop = 10;
$step = (int)(($stop - $start) / 10);
$i = $start + $step;
while ($i < $stop) {
print(number_format($i, 32) . "<br />");
$i += $step;
}
... it would work ok:
Alternatively, you can use number_format to convert the float into some string, then compare this string with preformatted float. Like this:
$start = 0;
$stop = 1;
$step = ($stop - $start) / 10;
$i = $start + $step;
while (number_format($i, 1) !== number_format($stop, 1)) {
print(number_format($i, 32) . "\n");
$i += $step;
}
The problem is that the number in the variable $i is not 1 (when printed). Its actual just less than 1. So in the test ($i < $stop) is true, the number is converted to decimal (causing rounding to 1), and displayed.
Now why is $i not 1 exactly? It is because you got there by saying 10 * 0.1, and 0.1 cannot be represented perfectly in binary. Only numbers which can be expressed as a sum of a finite number of powers of 2 can be perfectly represented.
Why then is $stop exactly 1? Because it isn't in floating point format. In other words, it is exact from the start -- it isn't calculated within the system used floating point 10 * 0.1.
Mathematically, we can write this as follows:
A 64 bit binary float can only hold the first 27 non-zero terms of the sum which approximates 0.1. The other 26 bits of the significand remain zero to indicate zero terms. The reason 0.1 isn't physically representable is that the required sequence of terms is infinite. On the other hand, numbers like 1 require only a small finite number of terms and are representable. We'd like that to be the case for all numbers. This is why decimal floating point is such an important innovation (not widely available yet). It can represent any number that we can write down, and do so perfectly. Of course, the number of available digits remains finite.
Returning to the given problem, since 0.1 is the increment for the loop variable and isn't actually representable, the value 1.0 (although representable) is never precisely reached in the loop.
If your step will always be a factor of 10, you can accomplish this quickly with the following:
<?php
$start = 0;
$stop = 1;
$step = ($stop - $start)/10;
$i = $start + $step;
while (round($i, 1) < $stop) { //Added round() to the while statement
echo($i . "<br/>");
$i += $step;
}
?>

Generating random values and keeping track of their sum

I have more than 200 entries in a database table and I would like to generate a random value for each entry, but in the end, the sum of entries values must equal 100. Is it possible to do this using a for loop and rand() in PHP?
You could simply normalize a set of numbers, like:
$numbers = array();
for ($i = 0; $i < 200; $i += 1) {
$numbers[] = rand();
}
$sum = array_sum($numbers);
// divide $sum by the target sum, to have an instant result, e.g.:
// $sum = array_sum($numbers) / 100;
// $sum = array_sum($numbers) / 42;
// ...
$numbers = array_map(function ($n) use($sum) {
return $n / $sum;
}, $numbers);
print_r($numbers);
print_r(array_sum($numbers)); // ~ 1
demo: http://codepad.viper-7.com/RDOIvX
The solution for your problem is to rand number from 0 to 200 then put in array, then sum the values and divide it by 200 after that. Loop through elements and divide every element by result of previous equatation it will give you the answer
$sum = 0;
$max = 100; //max value to be sumed
$nr_of_records = 200; // number of records that should sum to $max
$arr = array();
for($i=0;$i<$nr_of_records;++$i)
{
$arr[$i] = rand(0,$max);
}
$div = array_sum($arr) / $max;
for($i=0;$i<$nr_of_records;++$i)
{
$arr[$i] /= $div;
echo $arr[$i].'<br>';
}
echo array_sum($arr);
Created living example
How exact has the 100 to be? Just curious, because all hints end at using floating point values, which tend to be inacurate.
I'd propose using fractions... lets say 10000 fractions, each count 1/100 point (10000 * 1/100 = 100 points). Distribute 10000 points to 200 elements, using integers - and be absolutely sure, that the sum of all integers divided by 10000 is 100. There is no need for floats, just think around the corner...
Do a little over/under:
$size = 200;
$sum = 100;
$places = 3;
$base = round($sum/$size, $places);
$values = array_fill(0, $size, $base);
for($i=0; $i<$size; $i+=2) {
$diff = round((rand()/getrandmax()) * $base, $places);
$values[$i] += $diff;
$values[$i+1] -= $diff;
}
//optional: array_shuffle($values);
$sum = 0;
foreach($values as $item) {
printf("%0.3f ", $item);
$sum += $item;
}
echo $sum;
Output:
0.650 0.350 0.649 0.351 0.911 0.089 0.678 0.322 0.566 0.434 0.563 0.437 0.933 0.067 0.505 0.495 0.503 0.497 0.752 0.248 0.957 0.043 0.856 0.144 0.977 0.023 0.863 0.137 0.766 0.234 0.653 0.347 0.770 0.230 0.888 0.112 0.637 0.363 0.716 0.284 0.891 0.109 0.549 0.451 0.629 0.371 0.501 0.499 0.652 0.348 0.729 0.271 0.957 0.043 0.769 0.231 0.767 0.233 0.513 0.487 0.647 0.353 0.612 0.388 0.509 0.491 0.925 0.075 0.797 0.203 0.799 0.201 0.588 0.412 0.788 0.212 0.693 0.307 0.688 0.312 0.847 0.153 0.903 0.097 0.843 0.157 0.801 0.199 0.538 0.462 0.954 0.046 0.541 0.459 0.893 0.107 0.592 0.408 0.913 0.087 0.711 0.289 0.679 0.321 0.816 0.184 0.781 0.219 0.632 0.368 0.839 0.161 0.568 0.432 0.914 0.086 0.991 0.009 0.979 0.021 0.666 0.334 0.678 0.322 0.705 0.295 0.683 0.317 0.869 0.131 0.837 0.163 0.792 0.208 0.618 0.382 0.606 0.394 0.574 0.426 0.927 0.073 0.661 0.339 0.986 0.014 0.759 0.241 0.547 0.453 0.804 0.196 0.681 0.319 0.960 0.040 0.708 0.292 0.558 0.442 0.605 0.395 0.986 0.014 0.621 0.379 0.992 0.008 0.622 0.378 0.937 0.063 0.884 0.116 0.840 0.160 0.607 0.393 0.765 0.235 0.632 0.368 0.898 0.102 0.946 0.054 0.794 0.206 0.561 0.439 0.801 0.199 0.770 0.230 0.843 0.157 0.681 0.319 0.794 0.206 100
The rounding gets a bit squiffy if you're not using nice numbers like 100 and 200, but never more than 0.1 off.
Original question yesterday had exactly 200 entries and the sum "not greater than 100".
My original answer from yesterday:
Use random numbers not greater than 0.5 to be sure.
Alternatively, depending on how "random" those numbers need to be (how
much correlation is allowed), you could keep a running total, and if
it gets disproportionately high, you can mix in a bunch of smaller
values.
Edit:
Way to go changing the question, making me look stupid and get downvoted.
To get the exact sum you have to normalize, and better use exact fractions instead of floats to avoid rounding errors.

Add a decimal after two first numbers

I am generating some data of latitude and longitude with rand(10000000, 3000000); for example. But I need to calculate distance between two locations, so basically I need to convert my result, for example 22049256 to 22.049256 in order to pass to my function.
How can I achieve this most effectively with using least amount of resources?
TL;DR
I have integer 22049256, needs to be converted to float 22.049256.
Divide by 1M?
22049256 / 1000000 = 22.049256
$foo = rand(10000000, 30000000);
$foo /= 1000000;
echo $foo;
If you always want the decimal after the first two digits, that should do the trick.
<?php
$n = rand(10000000, 3000000);
$len = strlen($n);
$div = pow(10, $len - 2);
$n /= $div;
var_dump($n);
?>
http://codepad.viper-7.com/Nrql15
Basically just dividing by a number made by checking how many characters there are in your original number.
Simplest way would be to treat the number as a string and iterate through it, adding the decimal point at the appropriate position.
$new_number = '';
for($i=0;$i<strlen((string)$number;$i++)
{
if($i == 2)
$new_number .= '.';
$new_number .= substr((string)$number, $i, 1);
}
Edit:
Another possibility is to divide by 1000000 and run number_format to ensure proper decimal places:
$new_number = number_format($number/1000000, 6);

How to round down to the nearest significant figure in php

Is there any slick way to round down to the nearest significant figure in php?
So:
0->0
9->9
10->10
17->10
77->70
114->100
745->700
1200->1000
?
$numbers = array(1, 9, 14, 53, 112, 725, 1001, 1200);
foreach($numbers as $number) {
printf('%d => %d'
, $number
, $number - $number % pow(10, floor(log10($number)))
);
echo "\n";
}
Unfortunately this fails horribly when $number is 0, but it does produce the expected result for positive integers. And it is a math-only solution.
Here's a pure math solution. This is also a more flexible solution if you ever wanted to round up or down, and not just down. And it works on 0 :)
if($num === 0) return 0;
$digits = (int)(log10($num));
$num = (pow(10, $digits)) * floor($num/(pow(10, $digits)));
You could replace floor with round or ceil. Actually, if you wanted to round to the nearest, you could simplify the third line even more.
$num = round($num, -$digits);
If you do want to have a mathy solution, try this:
function floorToFirst($int) {
if (0 === $int) return 0;
$nearest = pow(10, floor(log($int, 10)));
return floor($int / $nearest) * $nearest;
}
Something like this:
$str = (string)$value;
echo (int)($str[0] . str_repeat('0', strlen($str) - 1));
It's totally non-mathy, but I would just do this utilizing sting length... there's probably a smoother way to handle it but you could acomplish it with
function significant($number){
$digits = count($number);
if($digits >= 2){
$newNumber = substr($number,0,1);
$digits--;
for($i = 0; $i < $digits; $i++){
$newNumber = $newNumber . "0";
}
}
return $newNumber;
}
A math based alternative:
$mod = pow(10, intval(round(log10($value) - 0.5)));
$answer = ((int)($value / $mod)) * $mod;
I know this is an old thread but I read it when looking for inspiration on how to solve this problem. Here's what I came up with:
class Math
{
public static function round($number, $numberOfSigFigs = 1)
{
// If the number is 0 return 0
if ($number == 0) {
return 0;
}
// Deal with negative numbers
if ($number < 0) {
$number = -$number;
return -Math::sigFigRound($number, $numberOfSigFigs);
}
return Math::sigFigRound($number, $numberOfSigFigs);
}
private static function sigFigRound($number, $numberOfSigFigs)
{
// Log the number passed
$log = log10($number);
// Round $log down to determine the integer part of the log
$logIntegerPart = floor($log);
// Subtract the integer part from the log itself to determine the fractional part of the log
$logFractionalPart = $log - $logIntegerPart;
// Calculate the value of 10 raised to the power of $logFractionalPart
$value = pow(10, $logFractionalPart);
// Round $value to specified number of significant figures
$value = round($value, $numberOfSigFigs - 1);
// Return the correct value
return $value * pow(10, $logIntegerPart);
}
}
While the functions here worked, I needed significant digits for very small numbers (comparing low-value cryptocurrency to bitcoin).
The answer at Format number to N significant digits in PHP worked, somewhat, though very small numbers are displayed by PHP in scientific notation, which makes them hard for some people to read.
I tried using number_format, though that needs a specific number of digits after the decimal, which broke the 'significant' part of the number (if a set number is entered) and sometimes returned 0 (for numbers smaller than the set number).
The solution was to modify the function to identify really small numbers and then use number_format on them - taking the number of scientific notation digits as the number of digits for number_format:
function roundRate($rate, $digits)
{
$mod = pow(10, intval(round(log10($rate))));
$mod = $mod / pow(10, $digits);
$answer = ((int)($rate / $mod)) * $mod;
$small = strstr($answer,"-");
if($small)
{
$answer = number_format($answer,str_replace("-","",$small));
}
return $answer;
}
This function retains the significant digits as well as presents the numbers in easy-to-read format for everyone. (I know, it is not the best for scientific people nor even the most consistently length 'pretty' looking numbers, but it is overall the best solution for what we needed.)

Calculating 0's and 1's in PHP

I want to calculate Frequency (Monobits) test in PHP:
Description: The focus of the test is
the proportion of zeroes and ones for
the entire sequence. The purpose of
this test is to determine whether that
number of ones and zeros in a sequence
are approximately the same as would be
expected for a truly random sequence.
The test assesses the closeness of the
fraction of ones to ½, that is, the
number of ones and zeroes in a
sequence should be about the same.
I am wondering that do I really need to calculate the 0's and 1's (the bits) or is the following adequate:
$value = 0;
// Loop through all the bytes and sum them up.
for ($a = 0, $length = strlen((binary) $data); $a < $length; $a++)
$value += ord($data[$a]);
// The average should be 127.5.
return (float) $value/$length;
If the above is not the same, then how do I exactly calculate the 0's and 1's?
No, you really need to check all zeroes and ones. For example, take the following binary input:
01111111 01111101 01111110 01111010
. It is clearly (literally) one-sided(8 zeroes, 24 ones, correct result 24/32 = 3/4 = 0.75) and therefore not random. However, your test would compute 125.0 /255 which is close to ½.
Instead, count like this:
function one_proportion($binary) {
$oneCount = 0;
$len = strlen($binary);
for ($i = 0;$i < $len;$i++) {
$intv = ord($binary{$i});
for ($bitp = 0;$bitp < 7;$bitp++) {
$oneCount += ($intv>>$bitp) & 0x1;
}
}
return $oneCount / (8 * $len);
}

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