SIGNIFICANTDIGITSFORDOUBLEEQUALITY Option

Specifies the number of significant digits to the right of the decimal in exponential notation that are used in equality tests between two complex arithmetic expressions.

Allowed Values

0 – 15

Default

Scope

DBA permissions are not required to set this option. Can be set temporary for an individual connection or for the PUBLIC group. Takes effect immediately.

Description

Because doubles are stored in binary (base 2) instead of decimal (base 10), this setting gives the approximate number of significant decimal digits used. If set to 0, all digits are used.

For example, when SIGNIFICANTDIGITSFORDOUBLEEQUALITY is set to 12, these numbers compare as equal; when set to 13, they do not:

1.23456789012345
1.23456789012389

SIGNIFICANTDIGITSFORDOUBLEEQUALITY affects equality tests between two complex arithmetic expressions, not those done by the indexes.