解析错误：语法错误，意外'（'，期望标识符（T_STRING）或变量（T_VARIABLE）[重复]

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For some reason I have received an error regarding passing a variable. The error message reads - Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '(', expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE)

I have tried removing the escape sequences

 <?php

 require_once("conn.php");
 $spend = $connection->($_POST['price']);
 $sql = "select * from service where quantityInStock <= $spend";
 $results = $dbConn->query($sql)
 or die ('Problem with query: ' . $dbConn->error);
 ?>

The intended output is a HTML document that enables the users to query the prices

</div>