The INT function

[tmyers]

I have a question that involves the INT function within Access.
I have been using it to do my rounding to the nearest tenth but just have a single anomaly that I cant seem to explain.

My expression is INT(-10*[Price]/(1-[GP]))/-10.
When I ran this against $19.00 with a 5% GP value, it returned $20.10. When I put this into our Excel sheet and take $19.00 and divide it by .95, I get $20.00 even as well as when I simply do it in a calculator.

Can anyone explain why a .10 appeared? At the end of the day it rounded up so it would be in our favor, but I worry that something like that could happen elsewhere and next time it might not just be a dime worth.

 

[tmyers]

What data type are you using for price and gp? If you are using single or double, you will be getting floating point errors.

Price is Currency and GP is number (single)

 

[theDBguy]

Can anyone explain why a .10 appeared?

Hi. I think it may have to do with "negative" numbers. I'll have to find a reference to verify that thought.

 

[plog]

My expression is INT(-10*[Price]/(1-[GP]))/-10.
When I ran this against $19.00 with a 5% GP value, it returned $20.10.

I think you screwed up your inputs or your formula in your database. I created a table with those fields, input 19 for the price and .05 for the GP and created a query with your function and it spit out 20.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

TheDBguy's original thought is correct. There is a marked difference between INT and FIX when dealing with negative numbers, and I think MAYBE you might have used the wrong one.

Int, Fix functions (Visual Basic for Applications)

Office VBA reference topic

docs.microsoft.com

The INT of a negative number rounds DOWN (away from zero) because INT returns the greatest integer LESS THAN the input number. The FIX of a negative number rounds to the number for which ABS(FIX(number)) is smaller than ABS(number) - i.e. towards zero.