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I look at a oracle database and there is a column named score it is declared as INT(12,2).

The values that are stored there look like this:
23487.31
0
322.3

So does it mean those are actual float values?
I really crawled through the oracle data type documentation but couldn't find any information regarding the notation of INT(a,b).
(Source: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b28318/datatype.htm#CNCPT012)

Edit: SELECT * FROM v$version; gives me:

Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.5.0 - Production
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.5.0 - Production
CORE    10.2.0.5.0      Production
TNS for Linux: Version 10.2.0.5.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.5.0 - Production
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    Oracle doesn't let you create a table with a column defined as int(12,2). int doesn't take arguments. Are you sure you're seeing INT rather then NUMBER; and if so, where is that being shown? Commented Oct 15, 2018 at 10:50
  • 2
    To reiterate what @AlexPoole said - you can't supply a scale or precision when defining a column of type INT. It's simply not allowed, and provokes an ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis error. dbfiddle here If you have a database where a column is defined as INT(12,2) it's not Oracle. Are you referring to the main-line Oracle product, or one of their other products such as MySQL or Rdb? (MySQL won't even allow this. Can't check Rdb as I don't have access to an Rdb server anymore, but I doubt it will work). Commented Oct 15, 2018 at 11:09
  • @AlexPoole I got the INT(12,2) from DESCRIBE MYTABLE. And yes it is a Oracle 10g. I updated my question for more details. Commented Oct 15, 2018 at 11:45
  • In Oracle DESCRIBE MYTABLE would should show INTEGER not INT. Unless there was a peculiar aberration in 10.2.0.5. Commented Oct 15, 2018 at 13:38
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    @Peter - in which client, and which version of DB and client? What do you see for the data type, precision and scale in all_tab_columns? Commented Oct 16, 2018 at 16:39

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So does it mean those are actual float values?

No. Those are numbers with a defined precision of two decimal places.

Oracle supports a FLOAT datatype but it is represented internally as NUMBER. If you want genuine floating-point operations for faster arithmetic it has BINARY_FLOAT and BINARY_DOUBLE.

why can't I find anything about the notation of INT(a,b)?

Because it's not valid Oracle notation. INT is allowed as a synonym of INTEGER, but it doesn't permit scale or precision parameters. If you try to include them Oracle hurls ORA-00907. (The precision would be nugatory anyway, because an integer can have a precision of zero.)

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Thanks for the answer, why can't I find anything about the notation of INT(a,b)? Do you have an idea about that? Or do you have any source for that?

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