Why does the pointer need to be a double?

In the code:

#include 
using namespace std;

int main() {

    // create a variable
    double number = 83.13;

    // create a pointer variable
    double* pt;

    // assign address to pointer
    pt = &number;
  
    // print pointer pt
    cout << pt;
  
    return 0;
}

The reason the pointer needs to be a double* is that the variable number is of type double.

In C++, the type of a pointer should always match the type of the variable it points to. So if number were an int, then the pointer should also be an int*.

Here's a quick comparison to help make it clearer:

int a = 5;
int* ptr1 = &a;    // OK: both are int

double b = 6.2;
double* ptr2 = &b;    // OK: both are double

double* wrongPtr = &a;    // Not OK: types don’t match (int vs double)

Using the correct pointer type ensures that the program knows how much memory to access and interpret properly. For instance, a double typically uses more bytes than an int, and a mismatch can lead to unexpected behavior.