Using Native Data Types

Native data types are those built into SQL Server and supported directly. All data types have a length value, which is either fixed or variable. The length for a numeric or binary data type is the number of bytes used to store the number. The length for a character data type is the number of characters. Most numeric data types also have precision and scale. Precision is the total number of digits in a number. Scale is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point in a number. For example, the number 8714.235 has a precision of seven and a scale of three.

Table 10-1 summarizes native data types that work with numbers and money. The first column shows the general data type or data type synonym for SQL-92 compatibility. The second column shows the SQL Server data type. The third column shows the valid range. The fourth column shows the amount of storage space used.