Tao Klerks (9/23/2008)
Sorry to whine, but this question is a little disappointing - It's educational on at least two counts (grouping sets - new feature, and possible gotcha on floating point numbers), but ultimately what does it mean for two queries to be "the same"?Do you judge based on the results? The query plan? The syntax?
Most people most of the time would be referring to "logical" equivalence - is the returned data set exactly the same regardless of the data set? And the answer to that question is, sadly, "It cannot be determined based on the information provided", as we would need to know the data structure of the table.
In case anyone reads this far, I do have a question: Do we know under what exact circumstances floating-point numbers (presumably Real and Float) will return different results? Can we assume Decimal types are exempt from this uncertainty?
I agree, Tao. There was an educational element to the question because I looked at something new, but there is also a semantic problem with the question, and even with reference to the BOL, I prefer your option of a third answer.