What is the significance of passing variables to a PHP function when calling it?

Passing variables to a PHP function when calling it allows the function to receive input data that it can operate on. This enables the function to perform specific tasks or calculations based on the values passed to it, making the function more versatile and reusable. By passing variables to a function, you can customize its behavior and output based on the specific data provided at runtime.

// Example of passing variables to a PHP function
function calculateSum($num1, $num2) {
    $sum = $num1 + $num2;
    return $sum;
}

$a = 5;
$b = 3;

$result = calculateSum($a, $b);
echo "The sum of $a and $b is: $result";