Question

Is there any way to change(increase) the data type of a column while saving the values into a temporary table?

SELECT TableA.ID_NO, sum(TABLEA.COST * TABLEB.QTY) as TOTAL
INTO #matCalc
FROM TABLEA A 
INNER JOIN TABLEB 
ON A.ID_NO = B.ID_NO

We have a bigger calculation in the actual query. When we execute our stored proc we get an error “arithmetic overflow error converting numeric to data type numeric”.

Any solution is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Just explicitly cast the numeric as a larger type. I’m using 18,2 as an example, but I don’t know your data, so different precision / scale may work better for you:

SELECT TableA.ID_NO, 
  SUM(CONVERT(DECIMAL(18,2), TABLEA.COST) * TABLEB.QTY) as TOTAL
INTO #matCalc
FROM TABLEA A 
INNER JOIN TABLEB 
ON A.ID_NO = B.ID_NO;