Question

Using Powershell:

[Show proper command to define variables as string and integer and for the following arithmetic operations.]
a = 5.7 b = 3
i. Define a and b as integer and what will be the output for a+b?
ii. Define a and b as double and what will be the output of a+b?
iii. Define a as string and b as integer and what will be the output of a*b?

Answer 1

In PowerShell, variables can be defined as specific types, such as integers or doubles, to perform arithmetic operations. When defined as integers, decimals will be truncated, while defining them as doubles will keep the precision. If one is a string and the other an integer, the string operation will replicate the string multiple times.

Step-by-step explanation:

To define variables a and b as an integer and a double respectively, and perform arithmetic operations in PowerShell, you can use the following commands:

• Integer: $a = [int]5.7; $b = [int]3
• Double: $a = [double]5.7; $b = [double]3
• String and Integer: $a = '5.7'; $b = 3

For the first case (i), when you define both a and b as integers, the decimal portion of a will be truncated, so $a will be 5 and $b will remain 3. Therefore, the output for a+b will be 8.

For the second case (ii), when both variables are defined as doubles, the output for a+b will be their precise sum, which is 8.7.

For the third case (iii), if a is a string and b is an integer, attempting to multiply them (a*b) will result in the string a being repeated b times, thus the output will be '5.73', as PowerShell will replicate the string '5.7' three times.