this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Had to think about it, but yeah, I guess, you can't do division or non-integer multiplication with integer cents, as standard integer math always rounds downwards and it forces you to round after every step.
You could convert to a float for the division/multiplication and you do get more efficient addition/subtraction as well as simpler de-/serialization, but in most situations, it's probably less trouble to use decimals.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

You do not want to use floats for any part of calculating money. The larger the value the larger the error in them - not a trait you want when dealing with money. Fixed point numbers/decimals/big ints are much better for this, if you want greater than cent precision, treat the values as fractions of a cent (aka move the arbitrary decimal over one more place or however many you need for your application). The maths is the same no matter where you place the decimal point in it.