Is it recommended to convert timestamps before performing calculations in PHP?

When performing calculations with timestamps in PHP, it is recommended to convert the timestamps to Unix timestamps (seconds since the Unix Epoch) before performing any arithmetic operations. This ensures that the calculations are accurate and consistent across different timestamps formats. To convert timestamps to Unix timestamps, you can use the `strtotime()` function in PHP.

// Convert timestamps to Unix timestamps before performing calculations
$timestamp1 = strtotime('2022-01-01 12:00:00');
$timestamp2 = strtotime('2022-01-02 12:00:00');

// Calculate the difference in seconds between two timestamps
$timeDiff = $timestamp2 - $timestamp1;

echo "Time difference in seconds: " . $timeDiff;