Floating Point Numbers

In 1.6 and above, we shifted the $[...] expressions to be calculated via floating point numbers instead of integers. We use 'long double' numbers when possible, which provide around 16 digits of precision with 12 byte numbers.

To specify a floating point constant, the number has to have this format: D.D, where D is a string of base 10 digits. So, you can say 0.10, but you can't say .10 or 20.- we hope this is not an excessive restriction!

Floating point numbers are turned into strings via the '%g'/'%Lg' format of the printf function set. This allows numbers to still 'look' like integers to those counting on integer behavior. If you were counting on ¼ evaluating to 0, you need to now say TRUNC(¼). For a list of all the truncation/rounding capabilities, see the next section.