Computer arithmetic

[Mike Schwartz]

> I'm generating a CSV file for Excel comprising about 6500 invoices.
> 
> Each invoice (row) has charges allocated to one or the other of six
category
> columns (e.g., goods, tax, freight...), and then there's a total column.
(I'm
> using filePro's '$' edit for the CSV entries.)
> 
> At the bottom, the columns are totaled, but the sum of the first six
columns
> does not equal the total in the seventh column; the error is slightly
different
> if I let filePro do all the totalling, or if I use Excel SUM formulas.
> 
> The error is typically a few thousand bucks out of a grand total over six
million
> dollars.
> 
> Is this an inherent result of representing decimal numbers in a computer's
> binary language?
> 
> --
> JP

     I've never encountered any errors due to representing decimal numbers
on any of the Excel sheets I've done.  It's always been a rounding error,
usually due to one of my fields being too small someplace in the processing
or some division of a number.

    I'd suggest capturing *all* the real fields into dummy fields that are
at least 3 or 4 digits larger than you think they need to be.  I bet that
fixes it.

Mike Schwartz