Numbers

The numeric data types are categorized as exact numerics: binary integer and decimal; and approximate numerics: floating-point

Binary integer includes small integer, large integer, and big integer. Binary numbers are exact representations of integers. Decimal numbers are exact representations of real numbers. Binary and decimal numbers are considered exact numeric types. Floating-point includes double precision. Floating-point numbers are approximations of real numbers and are considered approximate numeric types.

All numbers have a sign, a precision, and a scale. If a column value is zero, the sign is positive. Decimal floating point has distinct values for a number and the same number with various exponents (for example: 0.0, 0.00, 0.0E5, 1.0, 1.00, 1.0000). The precision is the total number of binary or decimal digits excluding the sign. The scale is the total number of binary or decimal digits to the right of the decimal point. If there is no decimal point, the scale is zero.