Predict the total count

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Predict the total count

bazzkar

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Points: 270
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November 4, 2010 at 9:34 pm

#242621

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Predict the total count

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john.arnott SSChampion Points: 11882 More actions · Answer 1

Or, if your locality sets the date format as dd/mm/yyyy, then would not the 01/07/2010 row be saved as first of July? That would seem to still result in two matches.

But, are there other national settings that might give a different result?

Koen Verbeeck SSC Guru Points: 259105 More actions · Answer 2

Nice question, but since this is an international website, it was better to include some information about the server settings of the set-up. Or include some statements like SET DATEFORMAT.

I ran a small test, and if you include the statatement SET DATEFORMAT dmy; at the beginning of the script, the result is 1.

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Bob JH Cullen SSCrazy Points: 2082 More actions · Answer 3

The question asks us to 'predict' the outcome, which implies you do it by inspection. But how is anyone supposed to know that 40358 is a relevant date serial?

Poorly constructed question, I'd say.

Jinx-640161 Ten Centuries Points: 1218 More actions · Answer 4

Jinx-640161

Ten Centuries

Points: 1218

November 5, 2010 at 2:11 am

#1247001

Hi,

Using UK regional settings my result was 1.

micniv Valued Member Points: 51 More actions · Answer 5

Interesting question

but the correct answer is ... 1

Peter Rijs Hall of Fame Points: 3400 More actions · Answer 6

I agree with Bob: how should we know which date 40358 is, without executing a command?

Poor question, poor explanation as well (as pointed out in some other reactions).

Peter Rijs
BI Consultant, The Netherlands

Christian Buettner-167247 SSChampion Points: 13729 More actions · Answer 7

No comment, next question... 🙂

Best Regards,

Chris Büttner

selyod Valued Member Points: 59 More actions · Answer 8

selyod

Valued Member

Points: 59

November 5, 2010 at 2:47 am

#1247013

Grr. This returns 1 on my setup. Ah well.

honza.mf SSCertifiable Points: 5519 More actions · Answer 9

Yes, there are different cultures with different dateformats. Not only strange countries from the east of Europe!

The different order in writing dates in UK and USA was used as a clue by lord Peter Wimsey. I don't rememeber the name of that story.

Hugo Kornelis SSC Guru Points: 64790 More actions · Answer 10

Terrible question. The only correct answer is "it depends", and that answer was missing.

If the default language of your server happens to be, for example, British English, you'll get 1 as your answer. Same for German, Dutch, French, and several other languages.

Add this to the fact that it's impossible to know what date the number 40358 represents, and you get a question that is impossible to answer without running the code, and even after running it leaves you with a choice between two answers.

(I used an educated guess - in my experience, over 90% of the code that does not cater for international use comes from the US, so I picked the answer I got when using SET LANGUAGE us_english)

Please do submit more questions in the future - but not of this quality.

Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server/Data Platform MVP (2006-2016)
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SG Cowley SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4207 More actions · Answer 11

Both 1 and 2 are the correct answer depending of the Dateformat set!. As others has said a poor question unless we have SET DATEFORMAT at the start.

ipounder SSCommitted Points: 1541 More actions · Answer 12

Poor US-centric question. The answer is dependent upon the cultural settings of your server.

Remember the rest of the world does not share this irrational date format. We on the whole use either day/month/year or year/month/day. Plus how is anyone supposed to know what date 40358 relates to without running a query?

See me after class - must try harder.

Andrea-227199 SSC Rookie Points: 48 More actions · Answer 13

Like selyod, with Italian settings (dd/mm/yyyy) this statement return 1

Toreador SSChampion Points: 11365 More actions · Answer 14

Even ignoring the date format problem, what is this question supposed to teach us? Why would anyone want to convert a date to a float?