. It is
     especially recommended for storing monetary amounts and other
     quantities where exactness is required. However, arithmetic on
     <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>numeric</TT
> values is very slow compared to the integer
     types, or to the floating-point types described in the next section.
    </P
><P
>     We use the following terms below:  The
     <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>scale</I
> of a <TT
CLASS="TYPE"
>numeric</TT
> is the
     count of decimal digits in the fractional part, to the right of
     t