Numbers

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Lua journey — lesson 5 of 90.

In Lua, working with numbers is beautifully simple. Unlike some programming languages that have separate types for whole numbers and decimals, Lua uses a single number type for everything numeric. This means you can store both whole numbers (like 42) and decimal numbers (like 3.14) in the same way.

Here's how you create variables with different types of numbers:

playerScore = 1500
gameVersion = 2.1
temperature = -10

Whether you're working with a player's score of 1500 points, a game version like 2.1, or even negative numbers like -10 degrees, Lua handles them all as the same number type.

Challenge

Easy

Create two variables to store numeric information for a game character. First, create a variable called playerScore and assign it the value 2500. Then, create a variable called gameVersion and assign it the value 1.3. Finally, print both variables to display their values.

Cheat sheet

Lua uses a single number type for all numeric values, including whole numbers and decimals:

playerScore = 1500
gameVersion = 2.1
temperature = -10

Both positive and negative numbers, as well as decimals, are handled as the same number type.

Try it yourself

-- TODO: Write your code here

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Fundamentals

1Introduction

The Language Hello World!Comments

4Operators 2 Relational & Logic

Equality Operators Relational Operators The 'and' Operator The 'or' Operator The 'not' Operator Short-Circuit Evaluation Truthy and Falsy Values Recap - Simple Logic

7Basic Conditional Logic

The if-then Statement The if-then-else Statement The elseif Statement Recap - Treasure Chest

10Tables Part 1: List-Style

What is a Table?Creating a Table Accessing Elements by Index Modifying Elements by Index The Length Operator '#'table.insert()table.remove()Recap - Manage Party Members

13Project: Simple Potion Shop

Project Setup Adding a Potion

Displaying the Inventory

Calculating Total Stock Value

Finding a Specific Potion

Selling a Potion

3Operators 1 Arithmetic & Conc

Arithmetic Operators Modulo Operator Exponentiation Operator String Concatenation Operator Precedence Recap - Simple Calculations

6Project: Character Stats Disp

Welcome Message Declare Character Stats

Display Basic Stats

Add a Boolean Flag

Final Summary

9Functions Basics

Declaring a Function Calling a Function Functions with Parameters Functions with Multiple Params The 'return' Statement Recap - Area Calculator

12Loops Basics

The while Loop The repeat-until Loop The Numeric for Loop for Loop with a Step The 'break' Statement Recap - Countdown

15Final Challenges

Recap - Player Turn Recap - Simple Database Recap - Sum of Even Numbers