Performing Arithmetic Operations

In queries, a number represents a floating-point number. A number can have any double-precision 64-bit format IEEE 754 value. This includes

  • A special not-a-number (NaN) value
  • Positive and negative infinity
  • Positive and negative zero

The numeric operators convert their operands to numbers as if by calling the number() function. See Converting an Object to a Number.

You can use the following arithmetic operators in queries:

  • + performs addition
  • - performs subtraction

XML allows hyphens ( -) in names. Consequently, the subtraction operator ( -) typically needs to be preceded by white space. For example, foo-bar evaluates to a node set that contains the child elements named foo-bar. However, foo - bar evaluates to the difference between the result of converting the string value of the first foo child element to a number and the result of converting the string value of the first bar child to a number.

  • * performs multiplication
  • mod returns the remainder from a truncating division. For example:
    • 5 mod 2 returns 1.
    • 5 mod -2 returns 1.
    • -5 mod 2 returns -1.
    • -5 mod -2 returns -1.

The mod operator is the same as the % operator in Java and ECMAScript. But it does not perform the same operation as the IEEE remainder operation, which returns the remainder from a rounding division.

  • div performs floating-point division according to IEEE 754.
 
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