How to multiply an int and a double

Swift version: 5.6

Paul Hudson    @twostraws    May 28th 2019

Swift’s type safety means code to multiply an integer and a double won’t compile:

let a = 4
let b = 5.0
let c = a * b

You can either fix this by forcing your integer to be a double:

let d: Double = 4
let e = 5.0
let f = a * b

Alternatively you can convert your integer to a double as needed:

let g = 4
let h = 5.0
let i = Double(a) * b

If this situation really annoys you and you want it solved fully, add this custom * function:

func *(lhs: Int, rhs: Double) -> Double {
    return Double(lhs) * rhs
}

That will multiply an integer on the left with a double on the right, returning a double containing the result.

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