Simple math always returns 0

Question

Hello all, I'm trying to do some simple math in a script and then output those numbers. However, the value that is output is always 0 for some reason.

I've triple checked the math and there seems to be no problem with it so I am stumped. Below is the code.

 float carMaxRPM = 8000f;
 int numberOfPoints = 20;
 List<float> listOfPoints;
 
 void CalcPoints(){
 for (int i = 0; numberOfPoints > i; i++)
             {
                 //RPM point is generated based on amount of points for the graph.
                 var rpmPoint = carMaxRPM * (i / numberOfPoints);
                 listOfPoints.Add(rpmPoint);
             }
 }

Any help? I've also tried using Mathf.Lerp(0, carMaxRPM, i/numberOfPoints); but it still returns 0, so I feel I'm doing something very wrong.

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by A5B · Jan 21, 2019 at 01:11 AM

The problem is that your code is performing an integer division, rather than floating point division (see here for details). As a result, when you're dividing (i / numberOfPoints), it's going to round down to 0, which is why you're getting zero. You can force it to perform floating point division by adding "(float)" in front of your division:

 var rpmPoint = carMaxRPM * ((float)i / numberOfPoints);

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Freznosis · Jan 21, 2019 at 01:19 AM 1

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Oh! This was it. I feel very dumb for missing this.. you learn something new everyday. Thank you for the help.

Captain_Pineapple · Jan 21, 2019 at 07:09 AM 1

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An even smoother way would be to just remove the paranthesis in the calculation. Since carMaxRPM is a float the calculation should then also be executed as a float.

Naayte · Mar 09, 2020 at 06:48 AM 0

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My math is much different, but this just solved such a huge problem for me. I had no idea this was a thing.

THANK YOU so damn much.

Simple math always returns 0

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