how do you assign a variable with infinite value,urgent

[mkey]

Hi All,
I need to assign a variable with infinite value in Pl/SQL.
Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[carp]

How do you define INFINITE? As far as I know, there is no discrete value for INFINITE, so you are going to have to create your own definition and then use it.
If you are using a number datatype, every system will have a limit which is dependent upon how many bits it can handle at a time, so true INFINITY is impossible.

What is it you are really trying to do? Perhaps somebody can provide you with a workable solution.

 

[ThomVF]

The magnitude limit of PLS_INTEGER and BINARY_INTEGER in PL/SQL is -2147483647 .. 2147483647 "Helping others to help themselves..."
=================================
Thomas V. Flaherty Jr.
Birch Hill Technology Group, Inc.

http://www.birchhillgroup.com

 

[ThomVF]

You can also declare numbers that are whole numbers (INTEGER). An Oracle integer may have up to 38 digits.


"Helping others to help themselves..."
=================================
Thomas V. Flaherty Jr.
Birch Hill Technology Group, Inc.

http://www.birchhillgroup.com

 

[karluk]

Right, you need to define exactly what you are trying to do. Just assigning max values to a column won't actually make the value behave like infinity. Some things work, but others don't. For example

infinity > number
2147483647 > number
This probably works, because you most likely won't need to store 2147483647 as a real value.

On the other hand

infinity - number = infinity
2147483647 - number = number
That doesn't work at all, so you have to be careful not to perform arithmetic on "infinite" values.

 

[carp]

And just to round out the pantheon of numbers,
floating point goes from 1E-130 to 10E125 (which, while not really close to infinity, will get you a long way towards it!).

 

[karluk]

I don't know, Carp. The largest known prime number is around 10E4000000. I would be a lot more impressed if Oracle provided a datatype large enough to store it.

 

[carp]

Me too. And I'd be REALLY impressed if they could do infinity!! However, even Oracle's documentation indicates that they are limited by your hardware, so your results may vary.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Even more impressive would be to handle imaginary and transfinite numbers as well....


ps ( I have always loved the concept of an imaginary number)

 

[mkey]

HI all,
I am doing bunch of calculation within my procedure.
Now the values can be all over the place.
Example

lat = 97.12456
long = 29.12345
va1 = 2.000245654

infinite_val := 1000000000;

What is a good datatype I could use for all these possibilities. Right now I'm using float datatype.But the outcome is not what I expect. Any thoughts will help! I need to perform arithmatic funtion on a infinite. How can I do this?

 

[karluk]

Please take the time to explain why you need to perform arithmetic on infinity. Infinity isn't a number, so operations defined on real numbers aren't defined on a set that includes infinity.

It's hard to avoid the impression that you are modeling your work incorrectly. I don't see the justification of inventing a whole new arithmetic that allows operations on infinity. Even less do I see how to do this in a database implementation where you are limited by the physical limitations of storage.

 

[carp]

Perhaps NULL would come close:

NULL + 50 = NULL
NULL * 50 = NULL
etc.

Of course, adding n+1 an infinite number of times won't get you to NULL. But then again, I don't think it would work for INFINITY either.

If you are doing arithmetic, then some kind of number is a good choice. If integers won't work, then by all means a floating point number is the way to go.

For about the fourth time in this thread, what -exactly - are you trying to do?