>>>>> "Bob" == Bob Kline <bkline@stripped> writes:
Bob> On Thu, 21 Oct 1999, David D.W. Downey wrote:
>>
>> OK, Looks like I need to read more carefully. Thanks for the tip
>> off. In the same thread, why is it if I switch from using decimal to
>> float it works fine? Why do i NOT have to declare the decimals or
>> whole # space using float?
>>
Bob> You shouldn't have to specify precision for FLOAT or DECIMAL, according
Bob> to the standard. The fact that you have to specify it for DECIMAL in
Bob> MySQL is a bug (see my earlier response to you in this thread). You
Bob> probably shouldn't use the version of FLOAT which specifies "precision"
Bob> in MySQL, because MySQL interprets FLOAT(8) differently than the
Bob> standard does (the standard says that FLOAT(p) specifies the precision
Bob> in bits, but MySQL interprets p as the number of bytes to be used for
Bob> the storage of the entire value). You probably shouldn't switch between
Bob> FLOAT and DECIMAL without careful thought about the use to which the
Bob> column in question will be put. There are significant tradeoffs to be
Bob> considered (e.g., accuracy, space usage).
Bob> I've submitted a patch for the entire section in the manual on numeric
Bob> types to correct some of the errors and gaps, but it won't be applied
Bob> until at least after Monty returns from vacation and has had a chance to
Bob> review (and amend) it.
Thanks Bob for pointing this out. I just did the following change for
the next mysqld version:
Changed DECIMAL(X) to be DECIMAL(X,0) and DECIMAL to be DECIMAL(10,0)
Regards,
Monty
