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james2000james2000 

Apex Math Bug?

I've run into a disconcerting issue while writing a test case: there seems to be at least one case of decimal division that doesn't produce an accurate result. Since we deal with a lot financial/currency calculations, this is a little scary to me. Has anyone seen anything like this before or can anyone tell me if I'm doing something wrong here:

 

 

Decimal num = 2.10;Decimal denom = 2.0;Decimal result = num / denom;System.debug('Result=' + result.setScale(2).toPlainString());if (result != 1.05)	System.debug('Not equal!');
 
If I run this code in an anonymous block, it displays the following:

 
20090626192509.249:AnonymousBlock.appirio_sm1: line 4, column 1: Result=1.00
20090626192509.249:AnonymousBlock.appirio_sm1: line 6, column 2: Not equal!
 
Thoughts?


Best Answer chosen by Admin (Salesforce Developers) 
JimRaeJimRae
If you use the decimal divide method, with a scale set, the result is correct:
 
 
Decimal num = 2.10;
Decimal denom = 2.0;
Decimal result = num / denom;
system.debug('\n\nresult='+result);
Decimal resultdiv =num.divide(denom,2);
system.debug('\n\ndivtest'+resultdiv);
System.debug('Result2=' + result.setScale(2).toPlainString());
system.debug('\n\n');
if (result != 1.05){
	System.debug('Not equal!');
}
if (resultdiv != 1.05){
	System.debug('Divide Method Not equal!');
} 
 
 Additionally, the documention indicates the "/" symbol is used on an integer or a double.  If you do your calculation with a double, the answer also comes out correct.
 
/ Division operator. Divides x, an Integer or Double, by y, another Integer or Double. Note that if a double is used, the result is a Double.
 
 
Message Edited by JimRae on  06-26-2009 04:51 PM


All Answers
JimRaeJimRae
If you use the decimal divide method, with a scale set, the result is correct:
 
 
Decimal num = 2.10;
Decimal denom = 2.0;
Decimal result = num / denom;
system.debug('\n\nresult='+result);
Decimal resultdiv =num.divide(denom,2);
system.debug('\n\ndivtest'+resultdiv);
System.debug('Result2=' + result.setScale(2).toPlainString());
system.debug('\n\n');
if (result != 1.05){
	System.debug('Not equal!');
}
if (resultdiv != 1.05){
	System.debug('Divide Method Not equal!');
} 
 
 Additionally, the documention indicates the "/" symbol is used on an integer or a double.  If you do your calculation with a double, the answer also comes out correct.
 
/ Division operator. Divides x, an Integer or Double, by y, another Integer or Double. Note that if a double is used, the result is a Double.
 
 
Message Edited by JimRae on  06-26-2009 04:51 PM
This was selected as the best answer
james2000james2000
Thanks, the divide method does indeed work. So does using a Double. I'm curious why the / operator is allowed for Decimal if it can potentially return faulty or unexpected results though.
Message Edited by james2000 on  06-26-2009 05:22 PM