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Not A Number (NAN)

Not A Number is a PHP constant, also called NAN. It represents the result of a math function, when the provided arguments are out of the application domain of that function. For example, acos() only works with values between -1 and 1, so processing acos(10) returns a NAN.

This is slightly different from tan($x), with $x = M_PI;. In this case, the returned value is INF.

While a Not A Number value is a float, it is possible to test a number with is_nan(). It is not possible to compare NAN together.

NAN is displayed as NAN.

<?php

$nan = NAN;

var_dump(is_nan($nan)); // true 

var_dump(acos(3) === NAN);  // false 

var_dump(acos(3));  // float(NAN)

?>

Documentation

See Also