Adding variables together returns string rather than number

Question

I've got three variables I'm trying to sum the values. For two of these items, I need the form value to read differently, so i've created an attribute cost to pull the cost through with. My code is:

var opt1 = parseFloat($('#ac1 option:selected').attr('cost')).toFixed(2);
var opt2 = parseFloat($('#ac2 option:selected').attr('cost')).toFixed(2);
var base = parseFloat($('#original_price').val());
var newprice = opt1+opt2+base;

if opt1 should be 4.00, opt2 6.50 and base 10.00, it's giving me an output of 4.006.5010.00 instead of 20.50

any ideas on where i'm going wrong?

toFixed returns a string (so opt1 and opt2 contain strings) and don't make financial calculations with floating points numbers. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Sep 5, 2011 at 22:03

uadnal · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-05 22:10:38Z

2

Is your toFixed method turning the number into a string? It must be. Try wrapping parseFloat around the entire call.

var newprice = parseFloat(opt1)+parseFloat(opt2)+base;

Also, try testing if opt1 and opt2 are strings

console.log(typeof opt1 === 'string');

answered Sep 5, 2011 at 22:10

uadnal

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1 Comment

TH1981 Over a year ago

yep, that did it. my javascript is still a bit rough. hadn't fully appreciated how toFixed worked. Thanks muchly!

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