COBOL for the 21st Century

Chapter 7. Computing in COBOL: The Arithmetic Verbs and Intrinsic Functions

OBJECTIVES

To familiarize you with

1. The ways in which arithmetic may be performed in COBOL.

2. The formats and options available with the arithmetic verbs.

THE BASIC ARITHMETIC VERBS

All the basic arithmetic operations of ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, and DIVIDE require that the fields operated on (1) have numeric PICTURE clauses and (2) actually have numeric data when the program is executed.

ADD Statement

A simple ADD statement has the following two instruction formats:

Format 1 (ADD ... TO)

Format 2 (ADD ... GIVING)

Examples 1–4

1. ADD DEPOSIT TO BALANCE

2. ADD 15.80 TO TAX

3. ADD 40, OVERTIME-HOURS
       GIVING TOTAL-HOURS

4. ADD AMT1
       AMT2
       GIVING TOTAL-AMT

Fields Used in an ADD

As noted, the specified fields or operands that are added should be numeric when used in an ADD statement. Thus, in Examples 1 through 4, all literals are numeric, and it is assumed that all data-names or identifiers, when specified in the DATA DIVISION, have numeric PICTURE clauses.

Tip

DEBUGGING TIP FOR EFFICIENT PROGRAM TESTING

A comma can be used anywhere in an instruction, as in Example 3, as long as at least one space follows it. We recommend that you omit commas, however, because they are added characters that can cause errors. You should separate entries instead by placing ...