Wow! You know me... I had to try it and you're absolutely correct. I don't know why I thought SQL Server was less capable than that. I took a fringe case to prove what you say is correct. Life just became a whole lot easier. Thanks, Sergiy, and nice proof!

Here are the simple tests I did using a fringe case to prove what Sergiy said. I haven't tested to see if or when getting rid of the extra division operator provides a real return on performance but the math works out just like he said.

--===== Using the NUMERIC datatype

DECLARE @Margin NUMERIC (21,6),

@Gallons INT,

@Freight NUMERIC (21,6)

;

SELECT @Margin = 0.000001,

@Gallons = 2,

@Freight = 0.000001

;

SELECT @Margin/@Gallons + @Freight/@Gallons;

SELECT (@Margin + @Freight) / @Gallons;

SELECT @Margin/@Gallons, @Freight/@Gallons;

GO

--===== Using the DECIMAL datatype (just to make sure BOL was actually correct)

DECLARE @Margin DECIMAL (21,6),

@Gallons INT,

@Freight DECIMAL (21,6)

;

SELECT @Margin = 0.000001,

@Gallons = 2,

@Freight = 0.000001

;

SELECT @Margin/@Gallons + @Freight/@Gallons;

SELECT (@Margin + @Freight) / @Gallons;

SELECT @Margin/@Gallons, @Freight/@Gallons;