Floating Point or Float

Description

• Number with a decimal point

• Used for precision

• Used for percentages, but between 0 and 1 (0 and 100%)

• Used for time

Examples:

Processing:

float speed = 2.5;

JavaScript:

var percentage = 0.25;

Python:

percentage = 0.25

Some languages have multiple types with decimal points

Example: a float in C# or Unity will need an F after the number in the code to tell it is a float and not something else. See the example below.

float speed = 2.5F;

^ This is one of the more common errors - forgetting that F.

Do not use commas in your numbers!

Shortcuts (Assignment Operators)

Quick Math

+= means “add this”

-= means “subtract this”

*= means “multiply it by this”

/= means “divide it by this”

This updates the variable when used.

Example:

Processing, Java-based, and C-based:

float opacity = 0.5;

println(opacity);        // Prints "0.5"

opacity += 0.15;

println(opacity);        // Prints "0.65"

Python:

opacity = 0.5

print(opacity)        # Prints "0.5"

opacity += 0.15

print(opacity)        # Prints "0.65"