Re: Native type for storing fractions (e.g 1/3)? - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Peter Eisentraut
Subject Re: Native type for storing fractions (e.g 1/3)?
Date
Msg-id 200703150741.19300.peter_e@gmx.net
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: Native type for storing fractions (e.g 1/3)?  (Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net>)
Responses Re: Native type for storing fractions (e.g 1/3)?  (Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net>)
Re: Native type for storing fractions (e.g 1/3)?  (Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@nic.fr>)
List pgsql-general
Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 03/14/07 18:55, Ken Johanson wrote:
> > In SQL servers in general, or in PG, is there a native field type
> > to store fractions? Or must one resort to char or separate
> > numerator/denominator columns?
>
> 1/3 repeats ad infinitum, and '1/3' would have to be converted to
> 0.3333333333 before used in a computation, so:
>
> What's your ultimate purpose or goal?

His goal may be to store and compute rational numbers exactly.  The
answer is that there is no data type in PostgreSQL that supports this.

--
Peter Eisentraut
http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/

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