Why do we need an array to return multiple values & why can't we use multiple variables to achieve the same results?

In PHP, functions can only return a single value. Due to something called function scope, variables created inside of a function are not accessible outside of it.

You could get around this by using global variables, but that is usually a poor design decision and will make your code difficult to manage and troubleshoot.

If your function is more complex and you need to return multiple different kinds of values, you may want to look into using classes or Exception handling.

The answer to your question, I'd say more it is like the way, the programming has been meant to be done, in ways, as per to the requirement, for instance, if you want a variable to be passed, then it could be returned with a variable, but, if there are multiple values to be sent, then array is the option, it would come to any programmer in mind, at first instance, I'd say, you get to this level of thinking, when you do a lot of programming, I was like you, when I started to do programming, thinking, why cant we use multiple variables, when returning multiple values, Hurrah.

Multiple variables can be usefif the info is only one layer deep. Arrays neaten the code and make 2+ layers of information much easier to assemble and disassemble.