php-beautiful-numbers

0. __construct

php-beautiful-numbers is a number format class that is rather small (with annotations < 15 kB). It handles numbers in a way that it outputs pretty, easy human readable numbers.

When initialising you specify at least the tongue you want to use it in, and maybe further options like accuracy (see quick manual inside class file).

$bn = new bnformat\bnformat( ['lang'=>'de'] ); // set output to German (number format and language) 

1. sinum() – SI numbers

Not only in the physics department it is good practice to use the SI format for writing down any number (in particular very large or small numbers). This ensures easy readability (thanks to the SI prefixes n, µ, m, k, M, G, ...) and only produces an output as precise as necessary (usually 3 digits are the sweet spot, meaning the total number of significant figures).

420 k  (= 419532) // korrekt gerundet, 3 Stellen Genauigkeit
73,7 M  (= 73672048.352987) // dito
98,4 µs  (= 9.8437291615846E-5 Sekunde) // mit Einheit und Prefix
695 KiB  (= 711372 Byte) // mit Binärprefix
3,7 km  (= 3657.3480260881 Meter) // Genauigkeit 2 Stellen

420 k  (= 419532) // properly rounded, 3 digits accuracy
73.7 M  (= 73672048.352987) // same
98.4 µs  (= 9.8437291615846E-5 second) // with unit and prefix
695 KiB  (= 711372 byte) // using binary prefix
3.7 km  (= 3657.3480260881 meter) // accuracy 2 digits

Code looks like this:

echo $bn->sinum( 419532 ); // simple number without unit
echo $bn->sinum( 9.8437291615846E-5, 's' ); // with unit
echo $bn->sinum( 711372, 'B', ['bin'=>true] ); // use binary prefixes 
echo $bn->sinum( 3657.3480260881, 'm', ['acc'=>2] ); // accuracy = 2 digits 

If you use HTML mode each space before the unit/prefix gets replaced by a thin space. Also (if not disabled) any ambiguous significant zero automatically gets overlined to show the given precision.

2.1. tnum() – text numbers

In newspapers and other running text it is common practice to note the numbers from 0 to 12 written-out; all other numbers are written as digits. This produces more beautiful and easier to read texts. - Also this function automatically rounds to a given accuracy when you want to display large numbers.

Ich sehe neun Bäume auf dem Hügel.   (=9)
Ich sehe einen Baum auf dem Hügel.   (=1)
Ich sehe 120.000 Bäume auf dem Hügel.   (=122823) [Genauigkeit: 2 Stellen]

I see nine trees on the hill.   (=9)
I see a tree on the hill.   (=1)
I see 120,000 trees on the hill.   (=122823) [accuracy: 2 digits]

Code looks like this:

echo "I see " . $bn->tnum( $val ) . " trees on the hill."; // quick and easy 
echo "I see " . $bn->tnum( $val, ['trees','a tree'] ) . " on the hill."; // singular distinction

Ann.: The language element is an array so that it is easier to use the class in multi-language surroundings, e.g. tnum($val, $LANG['de']['termin-AKK']) for the German accusative form ["Termine", "einen Termin"] and tnum($val, $LANG['de']['termin-NOM']) for the nominative ["Termine", "ein Termin"].

2.2. tsyn() – text syntax

If you want the perfect use of numbers in running text, you might additionally need tsyn() to distinguish between singular and plural for the correlated verb (e.g. "stand" vs. "stands").

Ein Baum steht auf dem Marktplatz.   (automatische Großschreibung am Satzanfang)
Zwei Bäume stehen auf dem Marktplatz.   ("stehen")
15 Bäume stehen auf dem Marktplatz.

One tree stands in the market square.   (automatic upper case at the start of record)
Two trees stand in the market square.   ("stand")
15 trees stand in the market square.

Code looks like this:

echo $bn->tnum( $val, ['trees','one tree'], ['transform'=>'ucfirst'] ) // first char to uppercase  
    . " " . $bn->tsyn( $val, ['stand','stands'] ) // choose corresponding syntax
    . " in the market square.";

3. sinum() – statistical usage

For statistical usage you may want to use sinum() with a margin of error (or a tolerance) instead of an accuracy:

58,97 ± 0,05 ns  (= 5.8969191908356E-8 ± 4.9140993256964E-11 s) // Deutsches Format
1778 ± 2 mg  (= 1.7781990197386 ± 0.0019757766885984 g) 

58.97 ± 0.05 ns  (= 5.8969191908356E-8 ± 4.9140993256964E-11 s) // English format
1778 ± 2 mg  (= 1.7781990197386 ± 0.0019757766885984 g)

Code looks like this:

echo $bn->sinum( 1.7781990197386, 'g', ['err'=>0.0019757766885984] ); // error instead of accuracy

Have fun!