Echo Variables and Text

I've been trying to get the syntax right so I can echo a $var and then text around it or after it. It either wont display text or $var or one overwrites the other at the beginning of the line. Trying to do something like this.

var=1
echo $var"+1.1"
#output expected   1+1.1

Its an older version of bash on Solaris 10.

Ultimately what I'm trying to do is add two decimal numbers. I've tried bc and dc but I cant get them add with vars instead of numbers.

Hi,

var=1
echo $var + 1.1 | bc

calc()
{
    awk 'BEGIN { print '"$*"'; exit}'
}

$ calc 1.2 + 3.4
4.6

Or with "bc".

var=1         

echo "scale=1;(${var}+1.1)"|bc

2.1