I'm working with a virtual column whose type ...

[Kirk_Masden]

I’m working with a virtual column whose type is “Number” and have been having trouble getting decimals to calculate properly.

If I use “1/3” in an expression the result of the calculation is “0”.

If, however, I type the expression as “1/3.00”, which should produce the same result, I get “0.33”.

Can anyone tell me what is going on?

I want “0.33,” so I’m happy with the result now, but I wonder if I have to type something like “1/3.00” to get the calculation to work properly or if there’s some other issue of which I’m not aware. Also, Is this issue unique to virtual columns?

[Kirk_Masden]

Now I see that the truncation of integers has been discussed before:

“Looks like you’re getting “integer division” - because both inputs are integers the expression type system infers the output should be an integer, and 55/60 truncated to the nearest integer is 0.” – Adam Stone

https://plus.google.com/+MultitechVisions/posts/2JkMZC86LcC

I guess the solution I happened to find is a known workaround.

Nonetheless, it’s not at all intuitive and I couldn’t find anything about it in the “Math Expressions” documentation.

I would suggest that the issue be fixed in some way or that documentation be improved.

[Levent_KULACOGL]

@Kirk_Masden

In general programming interface there isn’t an integer and/or decimal concept. Instead there are number and float concepts matching them. Therefore, for example in Java or JS, when you log (1/3) you get a 0. But if you use float(1/3) then you get a 0.33 value. The concept in AppSheet is pretty much the same.

[Kirk_Masden]

Thank you, @Levent_KULACOGLU!

This has been a good learning experience for me.

For AppSheet, however, I think more/better documentation is needed because I think the whole idea is for the platform to be easy to use for people who are not programmers.

Thanks to you, though, my own issue has been resolved.

[Aleksi_Alkio]

@Kirk_Masden We should explain this better, that’s true. +Steve Coile FYI