Errors
Two types of errors can occur during arithmetic operations.
- Overflow or Underflow
This error occurs if the exponential part of a result would exceed the range that the language processor can handle, when the result is formatted according to the current settings of NUMERIC DIGITS and NUMERIC FORM. The language defines a minimum capability for the exponential part, namely the largest number that can be expressed as an exact integer in default precision. Because the default precision is
9, REXX/CICS supports exponents in the range-999999999through999999999.Because this allows for (very) large exponents, overflow or underflow is treated as a syntax error.
- Insufficient storage
Storage is needed for calculations and intermediate results, and on occasion an arithmetic operation may fail because of lack of storage. This is considered a terminating error as usual, rather than an arithmetic error.