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![Samantha Atkinson](https://uploads.teamtreehouse.com/production/profile-photos/1678952/micro_sam_mod.jpg)
Samantha Atkinson
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 40,307 PointsWhy do I have to convert the user's number to a floating-point number?
Am I overthinking this? It seems to me I'm supposed to create some maths with 2 variables with integer numbers right? So why does it say in the comments:
//4. Convert that value from a string to a floating-point number
Shouldn't that be an integer number? Is it because if the user enters an integer number parseFloat returns an integer number anyway and if they do input a decimal number pareseFloat will do its thing?
1 Answer
![Steven Parker](https://uploads.teamtreehouse.com/production/profile-photos/969492/micro_tool_chess_set_2.jpg)
Steven Parker
230,688 PointsSince the numbers will be used to do math, the program should accept anything entered.
And it sounds like you nearly figured it out yourself, as you pointed out, a "parseFloat" will work with any number. But a "parseInt" would not correctly handle a non-integer, so it makes sense to convert the input as a floating-point number.
Samantha Atkinson
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 40,307 PointsSamantha Atkinson
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 40,307 PointsHi Steven, thank you for your reply. You've been kind enough to reply to previous questions of mine, thank you!
I'm sorry your last confused me.
"And "parseFloat" always returns a floating-point number, even if the input has no explicit decimal point."
I think why I'm confused is because I did a console.log and expected to see my integer number as 0.5 when I had input 5. So are you saying even an integer number is still considered a floating-point number by parseFloat regardless?
Steven Parker
230,688 PointsSteven Parker
230,688 PointsI confused myself for a moment!
But it's the conversion process that's important:
Samantha Atkinson
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 40,307 PointsSamantha Atkinson
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 40,307 Points🤣 thank you, Steven, you may have confused yourself, but you gave me clarity!