topic Re: Type f in Application Development and Automation Discussions

Type f

Former Member — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:30:59 GMT

For literals of very big numbers , we use text literal of the format:-

' [<mantissa>] [E] [<exponent>] '

I have the following difficulties:-

ques]] What does the following terms mean:-

1. [<mantissa>] =?

2. [E] = ?

3. [<exponent>] =?

4. Why is this needed & needed for long literals?

5. What does the following numbers look like/ explain them in words

(1) '+12.3E-4' , (2) ' -765E-04'

[Please explain in simple terms]

Re: Type f

Former Member — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:38:15 GMT

HI,

[<mantissa>] = The value.

[E] = Exponent

[<exponent>] =The value metion in this part means the power to 10. eg -4, it means 10 raise to -4 = 1/10000.

+12.3E-4 = 12.3 * 1/10000.

Rgds,

Prakash

Re: Type f

Former Member — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:39:12 GMT

Hi..,

[<mantissa>] is the base number for which when u raise the exponent given in [<exponent>] with 10 gives you the resultant number .

for example take this number <b>+12.3E-4

is equivalent to 12.3 X 10^(-4) = .00123</b>

when it comes to large numbers suppose say 12.3E35. then this number in normal format will have 37 characters.. we cannot store it in a variable of type i ( which can hold onli 11 characters ).. so to store this value we use this format .. of type f.

regards,

sai ramesh

Re: Type f

Former Member — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:51:23 GMT

Hi,

All the things you asked are related to store the Logarithmic values and the big float values that are stored in SAP.

See the doc for TYPE F

Floating point numbers - type F

The value range of type F numbers is 1x10*-307 to 1x10*308 for positive and negative numbers, including 0 (zero). The accuracy range is approximately 15 decimals, depending on the floating point arithmetic of the hardware platform. Since type F data is internally converted to a binary system, rounding errors can occur. Although the ABAP processor tries to minimize these effects, you should not use type F data if high accuracy is required. Instead, use type P data.

You use type F fields when you need to cope with very large value ranges and rounding errors are not critical.

Using I and F fields for calculations is quicker than using P fields. Arithmetic operations using I and F fields are very similar to the actual machine code operations, while P fields require more support from the software. Nevertheless, you have to use type P data to meet accuracy or value range requirements.

also take a TABLE field AUSP-ATWRT and see its values, you will know all about this.

reward if useful

regards,

Anji