Numeric expressions

This section covers numeric expression evaluation rules.

A numeric expression evaluates to a decimal value of type DECIMAL (or INTEGER)

MAIN
  DEFINE r, c DECIMAL(10,2)
  LET c = 456.22
  LET r = c * 2 + ( c / 4.55 )
END MAIN

The operands of a numeric expression can be one of:

• An integer literal.
• A decimal literal.
• A variable or constant of numeric data type.
• A function returning a single numeric value.
• A boolean expression.
• The result of a DATE subtraction, as a number of days.

If a number expression includes an operand whose value is not a numeric data type, the runtime system attempts to convert the value to a number following the data conversion rules.

If an element of a number expression is NULL, the expression is evaluated to NULL.

Depending on the operators and the resulting values, the data type of a numeric expression will be DECIMAL or INTEGER.