[string] Powershell: convert string to number

Simply casting the string as an int won't work reliably. You need to convert it to an int32. For this you can use the .NET convert class and its ToInt32 method. The method requires a string ($strNum) as the main input, and the base number (10) for the number system to convert to. This is because you can not only convert to the decimal system (the 10 base number), but also to, for example, the binary system (base 2).

Give this method a try:

[string]$strNum = "1.500"
[int]$intNum = [convert]::ToInt32($strNum, 10)

$intNum