When using this function, the result can create an overflow when the data type and format are not in sync. For a column defined as:
Salary Decimal(15,2) Format ‘$ZZZ,ZZ9.99’
The following query:
SELECT SUM (Salary) FROM Employee;
causes an overflow because the decimal operand and the format are not in sync.
To avoid possible overflows, explicitly specify the format for decimal sum to specify a format large enough to accommodate the decimal sum resultant data type.
SELECT Sum(Salary) (format ‘$Z,ZZZ,ZZZ,ZZ9.99) FROM Employee;