What are the best practices for defining and using static methods in PHP classes?

When defining static methods in PHP classes, it is important to ensure that they are used appropriately and efficiently. Static methods are called on the class itself rather than on an instance of the class, so they should be used for operations that do not require access to instance-specific data. It is also important to make sure that static methods are clearly documented and their purpose is well-defined.

class MathUtility {
    public static function add($num1, $num2) {
        return $num1 + $num2;
    }
}

// Calling the static method
$result = MathUtility::add(5, 3);
echo $result; // Output: 8