Question

Could someone help me clear up some confusion…

I want to put in some decimal values into SQL Server. These decimals can be from 0.0001 to 1.9999

Do I set my data type to:

Decimal(1,4) meaning 1 digit before the point and 4 after

or

Decimal(5,4) meaning 5 total digits with 4 digits after the point.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Decimal(5,4) would be 5 total digits and 4 digits after the point

See this article for more information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa258832(v=sql.80).aspx

p (precision)

Specifies the maximum total number of decimal digits that can be
stored, both to the left and to the right of the decimal point. The
precision must be a value from 1 through the maximum precision. The
maximum precision is 38. The default precision is 18.

s (scale)

Specifies the maximum number of decimal digits that can be stored to
the right of the decimal point. Scale must be a value from 0 through
p. Scale can be specified only if precision is specified. The default
scale is 0; therefore, 0 <= s <= p. Maximum storage sizes vary, based
on the precision.