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An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

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Nuur Daahir Warsame
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2K views

An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

Uploaded by

Nuur Daahir Warsame
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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11/23/21, 5:13 PM An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

JavaScript NaN

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn about the


JavasScript NaN , how to check if a value is NaN , and
how to handle NaN effectively.

Introduction to JavaScript NaN


JavaScript has the number
(https://www.javascripttutorial.net/javascript-number/) type that
allows you to represent numbers including integer and
floating-point numbers. And JavaScript number has a
special value called NaN , which stands for Not-a–
Number.

The NaN is a property of the global object


(https://www.javascripttutorial.net/es-next/javascript-globalthis/) .

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11/23/21, 5:13 PM An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

The global object is the window


(https://www.javascripttutorial.net/javascript-bom/javascript-window/)

object in web browsers:

window.NaN

And the global object in Node.js.

global.NaN

The NaN has the type number as shown in the


following code:

console.log(typeof NaN); // number

Checking if a value is NaN

JavaScript provides you with the global function


isNaN() that returns true if its argument is NaN :

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11/23/21, 5:13 PM An Essential Guide to JavaScript NaN

isNaN(valueToCheck)

For example:

const result = 100 + 0 / 0;


console.log(isNaN(result)); // true

Why use NaN


JavaScript uses NaN as the result of a failed operation
on numbers including:

Parsing numbers

Using undefined
(https://www.javascripttutorial.net/javascript-

undefined/) as an operand

Using NaN as an operand

Using indeterminate forms

Passing invalid arguments to a math function

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Operations return NaN

1) Parsing numbers

In JavaScript, you can convert a numeric string


(https://www.javascripttutorial.net/javascript-string-type/) to a
number. For example:

const input = '100';


const num = parseInt(input);

console.log(num); // 100

If JavaScript cannot convert a string to a number, it


returns NaN . In this case, NaN indicates that the
parsing has failed. For example:

const input = 'X100';


const num = parseInt(input);

console.log(num); // NaN
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It’s good practice to verify the parsing result using the


isNaN function:

const input = 'X100';


const num = parseInt(input);

// set num to 0 if parsing failed


if (isNaN(num)) {
num = 0;
}

console.log(num); // 0

In this example, the parsing has failed therefore it


returned NaN . The condition isNaN(num) is true so
that the number is assigned to 0 .

2) Use undefined as an operand

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An expression that uses undefined as an operand


returns NaN . For example:

console.log(undefined * 2); // NaN

In practice, you’ll deal with undefined quite often. For


example, when you access a non-existing property of an
HTML element and use it in a calculation.

It’s good practice to avoid using undefined in


calculation.

3) Using NaN as an operand

When an expression has the NaN, it always returns NaN.


For example:

const result = 10 + 1 / NaN;

console.log(result); // NaN

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4) Using indeterminate forms

When an arithmetical operation is in the indeterminate


form, it returns NaN. For example:

const result = 10 + 0 / 0;
console.log(result); // NaN

5) Using invalid arguments of math


functions

When a math function receives an invalid argument, it


returns NaN. For example:

const result = Math.sqrt(-1);


console.log(result); // NaN

In this example, the Math.sqrt() that returns the


square root of a number. Since it only accepts a non-
negative number, passing -1 results in NaN .

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Summary
NaN stands for Not-a-Number. It is a special value
of the NaN property of the global object.

NaN indicates a failed operation on numbers.

Use isNaN() function to check if a value is NaN .

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