FIX: Dividing 0 by a Negative Decimal or Numeric Number Results in -0 (285544)

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SQL Server 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290211 INF: How to Obtain the Latest SQL Server 2000 Service Pack

WORKAROUND

Check for 0 before you perform the division and avoid the division if 0 is involved; for example:

declare @v1 dec(10, 2), @v2 dec(2, 1), @v3 dec (10,2) 
-- @v3 is the result of @v1/@v2
select @v1 = 0.0, @v2 = -1.0
if @v1 = 0  
   select @v3 = 0.0
else
   select @v3 = @v1 / @v2

MORE INFORMATION

SQL Server does not consider the computed value (-0) equal to 0, so the comparison of the computed value (-0) with 0 fails. For example, the following code

   declare @v1 dec(10, 2), @v2 dec(2, 1)
   select @v1 = 0.0, @v2 = -1.0
   if @v1 / @v2 = 0  
      print 'equals zero'
   else
      print 'not equal zero'

Gives the following result:

   not equal zero

For additional information about related bugs in SQL Server 7.0, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

275608 FIX: Mathematical Operations on Numeric or Decimal Columns with Negative Numbers May Return Unexpected Results