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i am having hard time determining the length of a Decimal data type. The data i have in column is like 0.08,1.2,12.35,121.36. Now if i go for (2,2) it throws an error : Arithmetic overflow error converting numeric to data type numeric. Just wondering should it be (6,2)? and if yes can anybody tell me Why 6 and 2?

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2 Answers

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In syntax like

NUMERIC(precision, scale)

precision is the total number of digits (count digits on both sides of the decimal point), and scale is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point.

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@Programmer, so in your example, you would need Numeric(5,2) to accommodate your longest number 121.36, which has 5 digits, and 2 digits to the right of the decimal point. – RB. May 25 '11 at 13:59
@RB: At the very least. But the OP also needs to think about what to do with the result of expressions like 3.33 * 5.12 (17.0496). – Mike Sherrill 'Catcall' May 25 '11 at 14:35
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From your examples, should be NUMERIC(5,2) - meaning five numbers in total and 2 after the decimal point.

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