I'm not sure this is relevant to Ebase. It comes from a long
discussion on a FileMaker Developer's list--most of which I have
trouble understanding. But, the problem appears to be that FM makes
some errors in calculating when decimals (as in dollars and cents)
are involved. Maybe Ebase fixes the problem.
> > At the same time I am compelled to respond to those who have
> > suggested that the problem has always existed and it's just now
> > being noticed. Whatever magic FileMaker used in earlier versions
> > of the software to accommodate converting binary calculations
> > into decimals is not being used in versions 5.x. That is to say,
> > the same problem did *not* exist in the earlier days of FMP.
>
>Bill,
>
>The fact that the problem was not APPARENT does not mean that it did
>not exist. The problem of converting from base 10 (data entry) to
>base 2 (so the computer can perform the computations) and back into
>base 10 (to display the result) has been around since computers
>first crawled out of the digital slime.
>
>As I have said, FileMaker (as well as the operating system, the
>hardware, etc.) makes an effort to hide some of this nastiness from
>us all. I just took a quick look at FileMaker Pro 4.1 and noticed
>immediately an important difference between the field formatting
>options available to it and those available to us now in version
>5.5. In 5.5, there are two basic ways to format numbers: "general
>format" and "leave data formatted as entered." In FMP 4.1, there was
>only "leave data formatted as entered" -- there was no "general
>format."
>
>But between 4.1 and 5.5, they didn't just add something, they
>changed the name of what was there already. It appears to me that
>the 4.1 "leave data formatted as entered" option is actually
>equivalent to the 5.5 "general format," that is, it rather
>aggressively hides these rounding problems from the user. For
>example, if you create a calc field like this:
>
>calc result = n1 - n2
>
>and format this field in 5.5 as "leave data formatted as entered",
>then put 16 into field n1 and 15.03 into field n2, the calc result
>field will display .970000000000001. Now change the number format to
>the field to "general", what you will see is .97 -- exactly what you
>see in FileMaker Pro 4.1. But it's NOT "exactly" the same. If you
>click into the field in 5.5, even if it's formatted to "general",
>you'll see the actual result with all those ugly zeros. If you click
>into the field in 4.1, you just see .97.
>
>I'm with you. I'd rather just see .97. Seeing all those zeros shakes
>my confidence in the app I use to make my living now. But I'd be
>willing to bet a steak dinner that what FileMaker was doing behind
>the scenes in 4.1 is more or less exactly what it's doing in 5.5.
>It's just that in 4.1 we didn't get the option of seeing the truth,
>presumably because the programmers didn't think we could handle it.
--
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