why is the variable not initialized?

/** A salesclerk gets 3% commission for sales up to $5,000, 
4% for sales from $5,000 to $10,000, 
5% for sales from $10,000 to $15,000, and 
6% for sales over $15,000. 
Enter a sales figure and print the total pay. (dependent)*/

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Commission{
    public static void main(String[] args){

        double salesFigure, commission;
      
        Scanner scanner=new Scanner(System.in);
     
        System.out.println("Enter the total sales amount:");
        salesFigure =scanner.nextDouble();
     
        if(salesFigure > 5000) 
           commission= salesFigure*.03;
        if(salesFigure > 5000 && salesFigure <=1000) 
           commission= salesFigure*.04;
        if(salesFigure > 10000 && salesFigure<=15000) 
           commission= salesFigure*.05;
        if(salesFigure > 15000) 
           commission= salesFigure*.06;

        System.out.println("With a sales amount of $"+salesFigure+", $"+commission+" is the amount of commission earned.");

   }
}

/** For testing purposes use 
sales amounts     which should yield commission amounts of
4,000       120
5,500       220
12,000         600
20,000         1,200 */

Sorry for the formatting I'm new to this but I don't know why I'm getting the error that commission might not have been initialized on the following line:

 System.out.println("With a sales amount of $"+salesFigure+", $"+commission+" is the amount of commission earned.");

Your commision won't get initialized if you salesFigure is below 5000, I think you made a mistake while coding it should be this:

import java.util.Scanner;
   public class Commission
   {
      public static void main(String[] args)
      {
      double salesFigure;
      double commission;
      
      Scanner scanner=new Scanner(System.in);
     
      System.out.println("Enter the total sales amount:");
      salesFigure =scanner.nextDouble();
     
      // this should fix the problem > --> <
      if(salesFigure < 5000) commission= salesFigure*.03;
      if(salesFigure > 5000 && salesFigure <=1000) commission= salesFigure*.04;
      if(salesFigure > 10000 && salesFigure<=15000) commission= salesFigure*.05;
      if(salesFigure > 15000) commission= salesFigure*.06;
      System.out.println("With a sales amount of $"+salesFigure+", $"+commission+" is the amount of commission earned.");

   }
}

That should fix the problem. Also small nitpick but it's best if you declare your variables on a separated line, that way it's more readable.

>why is the variable not initialized?

That is because you didn't initialize it when you declared it:

double salesFigure, commission;

Further more, when you try to assign a value to commission, all possible value assignment for commission needs to pass through the given conditions.

    if(salesFigure > 5000) 
       commission= salesFigure*.03;
    if(salesFigure > 5000 && salesFigure <=1000) 
       commission= salesFigure*.04;
    if(salesFigure > 10000 && salesFigure<=15000) 
       commission= salesFigure*.05;
    if(salesFigure > 15000) 
       commission= salesFigure*.06;

So your compiler if telling you that, there is a possibility that if all conditions failed, your commission variable will be left uninitialized.

To resolve the issue, you could just initialize it with some default value:

double commission = 0.0d;

Secondly, check your conditions. Make sure they are not some contradicting conditions which can never be true.

A simple solution is to reverse the checks as follows:

    if (salesFigure > 15000)
       commission= salesFigure*.06;
    else if (salesFigure > 10000)
       commission= salesFigure*.05;
    else if (salesFigure > 5000) 
       commission= salesFigure*.04;
    else
       commission= salesFigure*.03;

This way you don't need to initialize commission, as it will always receive a value (I strongly recommend always using braces {} when using lots of if / else if statements).

You can write even cleaner code if you use an additional variable for the percentage:

 double percentage;
 if (salesFigure > 15000) {
     percentage = 6;
 } else if (salesFigure > 10000) {
     percentage = 5;
 } else if (salesFigure > 5000) {
     percentage = 4;
 } else {
     percentage = 3;
 }
 commission = salesFigure * (percentage / 100.0);