Just as we can have data types for whole numbers, we can have data types for numbers with a decimal, or fractional, part. This is what mathematicians call a "real number". That is, a positive or negative number with a decimal point (e.g. -3.25 or 0.777 or 1 or 16.365, etc).
In Java (and lots of other programming languages) this is called a floating-point number - because the decimal point can "float" around, that is, we can move it where we want it to be.
In Java the floating-point type is denoted by the keyword float (note that Java has another real number type, double, but we won't worry about that yet).
To create a floating-point variable, just as with other type variables, we declare it:
```
float myHeight;
```
Here, the type of the variable comes first, then the name of the variable, which is myHeight. The name is followed by a semi-colon (;) to show that the statement stops here.
To make use of this variable we can assign a value to it using the equals symbol (=).
```
float myHeight;
myHeight = 1.5;
```
It is possible to combine the declaration and assignment into a single statement, called a definition, like so:
```
int myHeight = 1.5;
```

Add the following code to a new file called FirstFloat.java

public class FirstFloat{
  public static void main(String[] args){
    int myHeight = 2.3;
    System.out.println("My height is " + myHeight + " meters");
  }
}

Compile FirstFloat.java and then run FirstFloat to see the output.
Change the MyHeight variable to hold your real height in meters and then save it and compile it and run it again.

First Variables - Floating Point

BEGINNER JAVA

First Variables - Floating Point

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