pg.ddx.io  pgsql-sql@postgresql.org mailing list archive  
help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Stephan Szabo <sszabo@megazone.bigpanda.com>
To: Michael S. Tibbetts <mtibbetts@head-cfa.harvard.edu>
Cc: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: min() and NaN
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 23:11:34 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <20030719230117.X55138-100000@megazone.bigpanda.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <3F145162.7010805@head-cfa.harvard.edu>


On Tue, 15 Jul 2003, Michael S. Tibbetts wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a table containing a double precision column. That column
> contains at least one judiciously placed NaN.
>
> I'd expect the aggregate function min() to return the minimum, valid
> numeric value.  Instead, it seems to return the minimum value from the
> subset of rows following the 'NaN'.

This appears to be a bug in the min (and presumably max) aggregate
function for floats.  AFAICT It should use the same logic as the < (or >)
comparison operator for the type (SQL92 6.5 GR2b iii I believe), but it's
just doing a < (or >) in C on the two arguments which isn't the same.

Changing it to follow those rules would give 2.718 for min and it looks
like NaN for max.




view thread (17+ messages)  latest in thread

Message-ID: <20030719230117.X55138-100000@megazone.bigpanda.com>
Permalink:  ../20030719230117.X55138-100000@megazone.bigpanda.com/
Also on:    postgresql.org/message-id/20030719230117.X55138-100000@megazone.bigpanda.com

 · 

reply

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Reply to all the recipients using the --to and --cc options:
  reply via email

  To: pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
  Cc: sszabo@megazone.bigpanda.com, mtibbetts@head-cfa.harvard.edu
  Subject: Re: min() and NaN
  In-Reply-To: <20030719230117.X55138-100000@megazone.bigpanda.com>

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

This inbox is served by DDX for PostgreSQL; see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox