Why does toPrecision return a String?

Question

View this code:

function testprecision(){
    var isNotNumber = parseFloat('1.3').toPrecision(6);
    alert(typeof isNotNumber); //=> string
}

I would have expected a number. If 'isNotNumber' should be a real number, recasting is the solution:

alert(typeof parseFloat(isNotNumber)) //=> number

[Edit] thanks for your answers. Precision is not so precise a term I conclude. It can represent the total number of digits of a number, or the number of fractional digits. Most people in the Netherlands (where I come from) think of precision in the 'number of fractional digits'-way. The javascript toPrecision method concerns the first representation, so this is confusing. Anyway, the method makes it possible to introduce 'false precision', am I right? For the second meaning we have toFixed, the same goes for that (returns string, possibility of false precision).

Anyway, having made reinventing the wheel my main hobby, I played around to construct a javascript float object, using the knowledge I gathered here. Maybe it's usefull for someone out there, or maybe one of you have better ideas?

function Float(f,nDec) {
  var Base = this,val;
  setPrecision( nDec || 2 );      
  set( f || 0, nDec || Base.precision );
  Base.set    = set;
  Base.ndec   = setPrecision;
  /** public setprecision 
   *  sets a value for the number of fractional
   *  digits (decimals) you would like getf to 
   *  return. NB: can't be more than 20.
   *  Returns the Float object, so allows method 
   *  chaining
   *  @param {Number} iPrecision
   */
  function setPrecision(iPrecision) {
      var ix = parseInt(iPrecision,10) || 2;
       Base.precision = ix >= 21 ? 20 : ix;
       return Base;
  }
  /** public set
   *  sets the 'internal' value of the object. Returns
   *  the Float object, so allows method chaining
   *  @param {Number} f
   *  @param {Number} ndec
   */
  function set(f,ndec) {
       val =  parseFloat(f) || 0;
       if (ndec) { setPrecision(ndec); }
       Base.val = val;
       return Base;
  }
  /** public get: 
   * return number value (as a float)
   */
  Base.get = function(){
      var ndec = Math.pow(10,Base.precision),
          ival = parseInt(val*ndec,10)/ndec;
      Base.val = ival;
      return Base.val;
  };
  /** public getf 
   *  returns formatted string with precision
   *  (see Base.setPrecision)
   *  if [hx] is supplied, it returns
   *  the float as hexadecimal, otherwise
   *  @param {Boolean} hx
   */
  Base.getf = function(hx){
      var v = Base.val.toFixed(Base.precision);
      return hx ? v.toString(16) : v;
  };
  /** public add
   * adds [f] to the current value (if [f] is a
   * Float, otherwise returns current value)
   * optionally sets a new number of decimals
   * from parameter [ndec]
   * @param {Number} f
   * @param {Number} ndec
   */
  Base.add = function(f,ndec){
      if ( parseFloat(f) || val===0) {
           set(Base.val+parseFloat(f));
           if (ndec) { setPrecision(ndec);}
      }
     return Base.get();
  };
  /** toString 
   *  returns the internal value of the Float object
   *  functions like a getter (supposedly)
   */
  Base.toString = Base.get;
}

usage/example:

var xf = new Float(); //=> value now 0.0
xf.set(0.86/0.8765,17).add(3.459);
alert(xf+'|'+xf.getf()); //=> 4.440175128351398|4.44017512835139800

Answer 1

Because it is a formatting function.

Answer 2

From the docs: "Returns a string representing the Number object to the specified precision."

toPrecision() seems intended for formatting output, in which case a string is the most reasonable outcome. It represents the final output in a form that will not be mangled by further manipulation.

If you are looking to do some truncation of precision for calculation reasons, I tend to multiply by 10^n where n is the digits I want to keep, take an integer from that and then divide again by the same. This isn't perfect though: in some situations you may invite an overflow. Frankly, I prefer to do more complex financial calculations on the server, where I have a currency, binary coded decimal or similar numeric types.

Answer 3

You need a string for trailing zeros. Currency display is a good example.

Answer 4

Assume you have a number like '1.6'. If you format it to have 6 zeroes to the right, you would get a '1.600000'. To the computer, it is still the same number as 1.6, but to you and your website, it is not the same if all your numbers are of different lenghts (which could hurt a parser, for instance).

So, as to avoid it, toPrecision returns a string, or else the interpreter would reformat the number to become '1.6' again.

Answer 5

it's toPrecision Promlem, try it without var isNotNumber = parseFloat('1.3'); alert(typeof isNotNumber); //=> string