ORA-FO-181-B: imprecise specification in case of negative durations

SECTION 9.2.1.3: canonical representation 

The algorithm is sufficiently clear for positive durations.
For negative durations, the world is not agreed on what the 
remainder is when dividing a negative number by a positive number.
The solution is to first take the absolute value of the duration,
then divide by 12 to get the absolute number of years and months,
and finally prepend a minus sign if the input was negative.
Similar remarks apply to section 9.2.2.3.


- Steve B.

Received on Monday, 16 February 2004 17:42:50 UTC