assign decimal to a variable in solidity

Question

I'm trying to calculate commission, but having a hard time doing a very easy math in Solidity.

Ex:

Commission = 5%

Sales = 100 ETH

100 x 5% (0.05) = 5 ETH

and in Solidity:

uint sales = 100;
uint afterCommission = sales * 0.05;

When I do this, I get

TypeError: Operator * not compatible with types uint256 and rational_const 1/2

Solidity can't assign a decimal points to a variable? How can I make this work?

Answer 1

Right, Solidity only supports integers. Try this instead:

uint sales = 100;
uint afterCommission = sales * 5 / 100; // 5%

If it's a variable amount but a whole number percent:

uint commissionPercentage = 7;
uint afterCommission = sales * commissionPercentage / 100; // 7%

If you need more decimal places:

uint commissionNumerator = 75;
uint commissionDenominator = 1000;
uint afterCommission = sales * commissionNumerator / commissionDenominator; // 7.5%