real

Learning Focus

Use this lesson to understand PostgreSQL real (single-precision floating point) and where approximate math is acceptable.

real Overview

• Storage: 4 bytes
• Approximate floating point
• Best for: scientific/measurement data where small rounding errors are acceptable

Example

CREATE TABLE sensors (
  sensor_id bigint GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
  temperature_c real NOT NULL,
  recorded_at timestamptz NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
);

Common Pitfalls

Pitfall	Consequence	Prevention
Using real for currency	Rounding errors	Use numeric(12,2)

What's Next

• Next: double precision
• Section Overview