Typecasting of Expressions

Expressions have data types the same as variables. Expressions are automatically typecast according to the highest-order data type represented among the components of the expression.

Expression Typecasting, Highest to Lowest Order

• Real
• Date
• Number
• Integer
• String
• Boolean

Therefore, if an expression contains both Number and Integer components, the value of the expression will be Number. For example:

(5.0 / 2)

This expression will return the Number value 2.5 because one of the components (5.0) is written as a number. However:

(5 / 2)

This expression will return the Integer 2 because both components are written as integers. A more explicit way to return a Number answer of 2.5 would be:

(Number(5) / 2)

In this example, we are explicitly typecasting the 5 component using the Number function. However, the next example will still yield an answer of 2.0:

(Number(5 / 2))

The reason is that the sub-expression (5 / 2) is evaluated to an Integer result of 2 before the Number function is applied.