Re: storing fractions of inches in a data field

[Wayne McAlpine <wayne.mcalpine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'd store it under the covers in decimal notation so that you can 
perform numeric operations on it, but convert it for display in fractions.

Booth Martin wrote:
> I have an application that goes back to the 1970s which measures stock 
> in inches and fractions.  It was designed with 2 fields for every 
> measurement{ a field for whole inches and a field for sixteenths.   3,  
> 8  would be 3 1/2 inches,   3 9 would be  3, 9/16ths inches.  There is 
> some talk of modernizing that.
> What would be another way of handling it?  3.5 and 3.5625 are probably 
> not going to fly as a solution since it is too hard to teach on the 
> production floor (I am told).
>
> Any ideas? Alternatives that might work?   :)