math - Powershell small numbers rounding up etc

Question

How do i stop numbers being rounded up and changing in powershell for example

[int]$i = 0.0000085

showing as being 0 but i want to keep it as 0.0000085 so i can add and subtract the number etc.

Answer 1

As explained in Steven comment you are forcing the number to be an integer which by definition holds whole numbers only and that is why it's loose the precision, remove the cast for int and powershell will cast it automatically or cast to decimal instead, see an example:

$i = 0.0000085
$i
8.5E-06
$i.GetType().Name
Double

[int]$i = 0.0000085
$i
0
$i.GetType().Name
Int32

[decimal]$i = 0.0000085
$i
0.0000085

Also, if the number is not intend for any math operation, you can use string as well

$i = "0.0000085"
$i
0.0000085