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Working with the SQL query interface in Access and the SUM function is not calculating correctly. The table I am working with has an AMT column with values in it that are limited to no more than 2 decimal places. Data was imported to this table from Excel, where the total of the column was confirmed to be 4,845,474.96, however when using SUM(AMT) the result returned is 4,845,474.96000043. Very nearly right, and yet impossibly wrong. Had a similar SUM function go wrong where .00000001 or so was lost when doing a sum. The raw data contains absolutely no data beyond the second decimal, so having anything beyond that is impossible, yet somehow Access is creating this extra data. Where did these extra decimal places come from?
A family of Microsoft relational database management systems designed for ease of use.
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Answer accepted by question author
Where did these extra decimal places come from?
Access uses binary when doing math and all other kinds of numbers except Integer can give such errors.
I would suggest you use a Currency datatype.
That makes sense, and it solves my problem. Also makes the formatting easier as this is currency data anyway, so thanks!