Are there any specific PHP functions that are recommended for handling numerical values?

When handling numerical values in PHP, it is recommended to use built-in functions that ensure proper type conversion and validation. Functions like `intval()`, `floatval()`, `is_numeric()`, and `number_format()` can be useful for converting strings to integers or floats, checking if a value is numeric, and formatting numerical values, respectively.

// Example of using intval() to convert a string to an integer
$string_num = "123";
$int_num = intval($string_num);
echo $int_num; // Output: 123