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Alexander Graham
7,966 PointsConfusion with the isNan() function
I'm confused with how isNan() function works... it's suposed to return 'true' if what's inside is NOT a number, for example: isNan('ten'), this will return 'true'. However if I type isNan('10') it will then return 'false' considering it as a number, but we all know that '10' is not a number (you can see this by writing "typeof '10' " and it will return a string).... so why is this?
1 Answer
Steven Parker
229,670 PointsIt looks like there's two issues contributing the confusion. One is type coercion, which is when the system converts a value's type (if possible) to fit the way it is being used. For example, a string containing digits will be converted into a number when passed to a function expecting a numeric argument or if math is performed on it. So isNan('10') is false and '10' * 3 is 30.
Another issue is that isNan() doesn't check type type of the value, if you wanted that you could do typeof x != "number". Instead, it checks for a special numeric value known as "NaN", which is commonly the result of attempting to convert a non-digit string into a number or attempting math on non-numbers that cannot be coerced. For examples: parseInt("word") or "word" * 2. The isNaN() function is needed because NaN has the unusual property of not being equal to itself. So NaN == NaN is false. For more details see this MDN page on NaN.