Julie, I've been through a similar experience posting a QOD and then finding out that I'd missed a point. Don't fret over that.

But, more important than a statement of the correct explanation for your results, folks should realize that NEITHER example is really a correct construction. You said it yourself in the explanation, so let's see the real effect of not specifying precision. This query:DECLARE @TestDecimal DECIMAL(8, 2)

SET @TestDecimal = 275953.73

SELECT CONVERT( DECIMAL, @TestDecimal * 0.40 )

, CONVERT( DECIMAL, @TestDecimal ) * 0.40

, CONVERT( DECIMAL(8,2), @TestDecimal * 0.40 )

returns 110381110381.60110381.49

Only the last column, the one produced with an explicit precision, is correct. The CONVERT in the second column rounds the local variable 275953.73 to 275954 before doing the multiplication by 0.40.