Re: Precision of data types and functions - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Douglas McNaught
Subject Re: Precision of data types and functions
Date
Msg-id 87k64s91b5.fsf@suzuka.mcnaught.org
Whole thread Raw
In response to Precision of data types and functions  ("Brandon Aiken" <BAiken@winemantech.com>)
List pgsql-general
"Brandon Aiken" <BAiken@winemantech.com> writes:

> I'm considering migrating our MySQL 4.1 database (barf!) to PostgreSQL 8
> or MySQL 5.
>
> The guy who originally designed the system made all the number data
> FLOATs, even for currency items.  Unsurprisingly, we've noticed math
> errors resulting from some of the aggregate functions.  I've learned
> MySQL 5 stores numbers with the DECIMAL data type as text strings, and
> does math at 64-bit precision.  Where can I find information about how
> precise PostgreSQL 8 math is?

You probably want to use NUMERIC for currency values.  See:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/interactive/datatype.html#DATATYPE-NUMERIC-DECIMAL

-Doug

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