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JavaScript Arithmetic Lab

Objectives

  1. Practice doing math with JavaScript
  2. Practice writing functions that do things with numbers
  3. Practice parsing strings as numbers

Introduction

In this lab, we're going to practice writing functions and manipulating numbers in JavaScript. First, though, we need to go over some basic math. In this lab, we're going to learn about various arithmetic operators. What's an operator, you say? It's a symbol that operates on one or more (usually two) objects — + is a good example. The + operator says "add what's to the left of + and what's to the right of + together." Easy-peasy!

As you read through this lesson, you're going to be adding your solutions to index.js. You'll write a total of eight functions; use the results of running learn test in your IDE to guide you towards the right function names and functionality.

Basic Math

The most fundamental math operations work as one might expect in JavaScript: + adds two numbers; - subtracts one number from another; * multiplies two numbers; and / divides one number by another. For example (as usual, follow along in console!)

1 + 80 // 81
60 - 40 // 20
2 * 3.4 // 6.8 (there's that floating-point arithmetic again...)
5.0 / 2.5 // 2

At this point, we can fix the first four broken tests: we can define functions add(), subtract(), multiply(), divide() in index.js.

Math + Assignment

Additionally, we can increment (++) and decrement (--) a number if it's assigned to a variable:

var number = 5

number++ // 5... hmmmm

number // 6 -- the number was incremented after it was evaluated

number-- // 6

number // 5

We can also put the incrementor and decrementor operations before the number:

--number // 4

++number // 5

But generally, you will see them placed after the number (and we recommend that that's where you put them). If you're interested in the difference, take a look here

And, while we're on the subject, you'll usually only want to use these incrementors and decrementors when the shorthand makes what you're writing easier to read (more on when exactly later). Instead, it's best to use the basic arithmetic operators combined with =. For the examples below, assume that number is equal to 5 (and resets for every example).

  • += modifies the value to the operator's left by adding to it the value to the operator's right:
number += 3 // 8
  • -= modifies the value to the operator's left by subtracting from it the value to the operator's right:
number -= 2 // 3
  • *= modifies the value to the operator's left by multiplying it by the value to the operator's right:
number *= 10 // 50
  • /= modifies the value to the operator's left by dividing it by the value to the operator's right:
number /= 5 // 1

The thing to remember about these methods is that they modify the variable in place. So if we have two functions that depend on the same external variable, the order in which they're called matters. Follow along in console:

var number = 10

function add5() {
  number += 5
}

function divideBy3() {
  number /= 3
}

divideBy3()

console.log(number) // 3.333333333335

add5()

console.log(number) // 8.333333333335

// reset number
number = 10

add5()

console.log(number) // 15

divideBy3()

console.log(number) // 5

Because these methods are more explicit, prefer += to ++ and -= to -- (usually).

Okay, now we're ready to write solutions for the next two functions: inc(n) and dec(n).

Parsing Numbers

Sometimes, we'll receive a number — well, we know it's a number, as we've seen many numbers in the past. JavaScript, however, won't know that it's a number because it shows up wrapped in quotes — JavaScript, then, thinks it's a string.

Luckily, JavaScript gives us tools to turn these strings into proper numbers (that is, numbers that JavaScript understands).

Number()

The first such tool is the function Number(), which accepts one argument: the value to parse. So a typical call to Number() looks like

Number('2') // 2

What happens, though, if we pass utter nonsense to Number()? Go ahead and try it in the console — something like

Number('nonsense!')

What did it return? NaN? What is that?

NaN stands for "not a number" — pretty handy, right? This is the number (in the JavaScript sense) that JavaScript returns when it can't determine a valid value for a numeric operation.