Comment Added by : Nrom

Comment Added at : 2012-06-26 20:16:52

Comment on Tutorial : Using cout in C++ By Baski
Line 11 says:
cout << "Here's a fraction:\t\t" << (float) 5/8 << endl;

You explained:
On line 11, the value 5/8 is inserted into cout. The term (float) tells cout that you want this value evaluated as a decimal equivalent, and so a fraction is printed.

But I think (float) tells the compiler to cast the integer '5' as a float before performing the evaluation of 5/8: 5.0/8 The 8 remains an int, but it gets promoted to float during the evaluation, so the result is a float. cout then deals with the result, which is a float.

Wrapping 5/8 in parens causes the fraction to be evaluated and that result cast to a float. 5/8 is zero. The zero is cast to a float and printed.

cout << "Here's a fraction:\t\t" << (float) (5/8) << endl;

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