Number Type ("M" Reference)

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The Numeric type encompasses all numeric values.

Operators

The unary operations in the following table take Number as a right operand.

Operator	Return
+, -	Number

The binary operations in the following table take Number as a left operand.

Operator	Right Operand	Return
+, -	Number	Number
*, /, %	Number	Number
>, <, <=, >=, ==, !=	Number	Logical

Remarks

The following operations may cause underflow and overflow errors:

• The predefined unary - operator.

• The predefined +, -, *, and / binary operators.

• Explicit numeric conversions from one Number type to another.

If all of the operands are constant expressions, underflow and overflow is a compile error; otherwise, underflow and overflow is a runtime error.

The following operations may cause a divide by zero error:

• The predefined / and % binary operators.

If the second operand (the denominator) is a constant expression, divide by zero is a compile error; otherwise, divide by zero is a runtime error.

Number is an abstract type with the following four abstract subtypes:

• Decimal

• Integer

• Scientific

• Unsigned

Each of these subtypes is further refined to a concrete type with a precision. A concrete type of a smaller precision can always be converted to the same type of a larger precision. Converting from a larger precision to a smaller precision tests for overflow at runtime.

The arithmetic operations (+, -, *, /, %) previously defined are specialized to return the most specific type of its operands (for example, Integer8 + Integer8 returns Integer8 or Decimal9 + Decimal38 returns Decimal38).

Code Example

The following code shows the Millimeters field being declared as a Number type and receiving the value of 43.

Millimeters : Number = 43;