Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com> writes:
> Think I answered my own question. Numeric refers to all the types under:
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.6/static/datatype-numeric.html
> not just the specific type numeric.
Right. This overloading of the term "numeric" is a bit unfortunate,
but it's not all our fault, because the SQL standard does the same
thing --- for instance they write
— The data types NUMERIC, DECIMAL, SMALLINT, INTEGER, and BIGINT are
collectively referred to as exact numeric types.
— The data types FLOAT, REAL, and DOUBLE PRECISION are collectively
referred to as approximate numeric types.
— Exact numeric types and approximate numeric types are collectively
referred to as numeric types. Values of numeric types are referred
to as numbers.
regards, tom lane
