Arithmetic Expressions in SET

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Arithmetic Expressions in SET

An arithmetic expression can include the following data items:

Numeric columns from the database
Results from previous SET statements
Numeric literals

The following are valid arithmetic operators.

Function	Entry	Description
Add	+	Adds the specified numeric operands.
Subtract	-	Subtracts the specified numeric operands.
Divide	/	Divides the specified numeric operands (divisor cannot be 0).
Multiply	*	Multiplies the specified numeric operands.
Parenthetical expression	( )	Clarifies which operations are to be performed first in a complex calculation (can specify up to 5 levels of nested parentheses).
Unary +	+	Indicates that the specified numeric operand is a positive value (must precede the numeric data without a space between the symbol and the data).
Unary -	-	Indicates that the specified numeric operand is a negative value (must precede the numeric data without a space between the symbol and the data).

A space must precede and follow each operator. However, no space follows a unary arithmetic operator (an operator accompanying a single value). For example, if your data includes negative numbers, the minus sign (-) in front of a number is the unary operator, such as in -2.

An arithmetic expression can begin only with one of the following:

Left parenthesis
Unary +
Unary -
Numeric constant
Numeric column name

An arithmetic expression can end only with one of the following:

A right parenthesis
A numeric constant
A numeric column-name