<?php

//First we will call on the function closestnumber.
//
//The first number inside the function is the outcome number
//
//The others are an array of suggested numbers from which we will
//determine the closest.
//
//closestnumber(outcome number, array closest);

$closest = closestnumber(1204 , array(431,1003, 450, 9, 554, 10003, 239, 237, 400));

//Here are the two results that are returned.
//
//Closest is the winner, and difference is the winning distance
//from the outcome number:

echo "Closest: ".$closest['closest']."<br>";

echo "Difference: ".$closest['difference'];

//And finally herre is the function itself

function closestnumber($number, $candidates)
{

//First we will determine the difference between each of the numbers

for($i = 0; $i != sizeof($candidates); $i++)
{

$results[$i][0] = abs($candidates[$i] - $number);

$results[$i][1] = $i;

}

//Then sort them

sort($results);

//Returning the closest number and its difference

$end_result['closest'] = $candidates[$results[0][1]];

$end_result['difference'] = $results[0][0];

return $end_result;

}

?>