You saw the thread title.

How can I use the number_format() function on values such as the total number of posts on the forum home page? I tried including a line like this in the phpinclude template...
Code:
$totalposts = number_format($totalposts);
...but it didn't work. I tried giving it it's own name ($total_posts), but that didn't work either. Do I simply need to modify the actual source code of the files? I can do this if I need to, but would obviously rather avoid it if possible.