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From: PG Bug reporting form <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: BUG #19467: Inconsistency in MOD() result involving POWER() and floating-point precision in PostgreSQL
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 06:44:56 +0000
Message-ID: <[email protected]> (raw)

The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      19467
Logged by:          Jasper Andrew
Email address:      [email protected]
PostgreSQL version: 18.1
Operating system:   Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x86_64
Description:        

The following query produces inconsistent results across different database
systems:

```SQL
select mod(coalesce(pow(3.00,70.31),93.23),ceiling(sign(58.81)))
from comments as ref_0;
```

# Observed Behavior
- On MySQL, DuckDB, and MonetDB, the result is consistently:

```text
 mod
------
 0.0
 0.0
 0.0
 0.0
(4 rows)
```

- On PostgreSQL, the same query returns:

```text
 mod
------
 0.41
 0.41
 0.41
 0.41
(4 rows)
```
# Expected Behavior
Given that:
- sign(58.81) evaluates to 1
- ceiling(1) evaluates to 1

the expression simplifies to:

- mod(pow(3.00, 70.31), 1)

Mathematically, this corresponds to the fractional part of 3^70.31,  which
should be deterministic for a given evaluation strategy.

However, different systems produce significantly different results:

some return 0
only PostgreSQL returns 0.41

# Question

Is this discrepancy expected due to differences in floating-point evaluation
and implementation of functions such as:

- POWER() / pow()
- MOD()
- implicit type handling (e.g., double precision vs numeric)

Or could this indicate a potential inconsistency in how PostgreSQL evaluates
floating-point expressions compared to other systems?

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