title: 'A non well formed numeric value encountered' on text string
body: <p>I've got a bit of code the refuses to run, giving the error; </p>
  
  <pre><code>[ErrorException]                             
  A non well formed numeric value encountered
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've read an awful lot about it, but all of the solutions seem to have dealt with people not using <code>number_format</code>, <code>date</code> or <code>strtotime</code> correctly.</p>
  
  <p>My code can be as simple as the below whilst giving the error;</p>
  
  <pre><code>$plan == 'Event';
  if($plan !== 'Event') {
      $cost_of_report = $cost_of_report * 2;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The line <code>$cost_of_report = $cost_of_report * 2;</code> works on its own.</p>
  
  <p>I've echoed out <code>gettype($plan)</code>and it is a string.</p>
  
  <p>I'm using this in a Laravel artisan command with in Laravel 4.2 on PHP 5.6.31.</p>
  
  <p>Does anyone have any idea what's wrong or what I can do to try and get this working?</p>