confusion with integers (newbie question)

hey, im 15 years old and just starting out learning C. my question is this:
when i use "atoi" to change a character variable to an integer its works fine. however when i use it to change a character variable into a float variable it still comes out as an integer and i cannot place a decimal. can someone help me figure out how to make this work. thanks.

here is a small code of mine to show you what i mean.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  float num1;
  float num2;
  float ans;
  char cnum1[20];
  char cnum2[20];
  
  printf(" addition program.\n");
  printf("input number:");
  gets(cnum1);
  printf("inut number:");
  gets(cnum2);
  num1=atoi(cnum1);
  num2=atoi(cnum2);
  ans=num1+num2;
  printf("%f+%f=%f", num1, num2, ans);
  system("PAUSE");	
  return 0;
}

[code][/code]tagged by Salem

Use atof if you want floats.

An integer is not the same as a float in C, use atof.

atoi = array to integer

Of course the result is an integer . As was mentioned, use atof instead.

thanks ALOT. that was driving me crazy. now i can continue on my C learning adventure!

could be wrong here, but I'm not. atof() is used to go from ASCII to a double, not a float. Like I said, I could be wrong, but I'm almost certain that's the way atof works. Check out your reference books guys.

atof() converts a string to a double. Isn't double a float just with more precision?

Originally posted by damonbrinkley
atof() converts a string to a double. Isn't double a float just with more precision?

The point is, a double is larger than a float. Your compiler should warn you about possible loss of data. Example:

char c;
int x;

x = 1000000;
c = x; /* Data loss. */

The same holds true for double->float conversion.

Quzah.