Re: SELECT with REAL...

Hi,

Thank you all for your comments.

Finally, I think I will simply use the data type NUMERIC instead of REAL
in all my columns !!
This type is more appropriate to store prices !

Philippe Ferreira.

>
> Try this:
>
> SELECT 13.95 = 13.95::real;
>
> It should yield false, because the first number constant is presumed
> to be of type numeric, which is an exact format, and the second
> constant is explicitly cast to a single precision floating point
> number, in which it doesn't fit*, and therefore actually is stored as
> 13.9499998**. So, the comparison is in fact 13.95=13.9499998, which
> of course is false.
>
> To see the effect in another way, try:
>
> SELECT 13.95::real + 0.00000000000001;
>
> *) The reason it doesn't fit is that the floating point
> representation is using base 2, instead of base 10.
> **) The exact value could vary, depending on the floating point
> implementation of your system. This is what my implementation does.