Is there any difference between DECIMAL and NUMERIC in SQL Server?

Dhanapal_53262 0
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Is there any difference between DECIMAL and NUMERIC data types in SQL Server?

When should I use DECIMAL and when NUMERIC?

sqldatatypes sql-server
6 Answers
Guffa_690830

This is what then SQL2003 standard (§6.1 Data Types) says about the two:

 <exact numeric type> ::=
    NUMERIC [ <left paren> <precision> [ <comma> <scale> ] <right paren> ]
  | DECIMAL [ <left paren> <precision> [ <comma> <scale> ] <right paren> ]
  | DEC [ <left paren> <precision> [ <comma> <scale> ] <right paren> ]
  | SMALLINT
  | INTEGER
  | INT
  | BIGINT

 ...

21) NUMERIC specifies the data type
    exact numeric, with the decimal
    precision and scale specified by the
    <precision> and <scale>.

22) DECIMAL specifies the data type
    exact numeric, with the decimal scale
    specified by the <scale> and the
    implementation-defined decimal
    precision equal to or greater than the
    value of the specified <precision>.
user_746780

To my knowledge there is no difference between NUMERIC and DECIMAL data types. They are synonymous to each other and either one can be used. DECIMAL and NUMERIC data types are numeric data types with fixed precision and scale.

Edit:

Speaking to a few collegues maybe its has something to do with DECIMAL being the ANSI SQL standard and NUMERIC being one Mircosoft prefers as its more commonly found in programming languages. ...Maybe ;)

kevchadders_645550

They are exactly the same. When you use it be consistent. Use one of them in your database

user_72386330
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