Arbitrary precision arithmatic with pgsql

Hi,

The docs says that numeric type supports numbers upto
any precision

<docs>
8.1.2. Arbitrary Precision Numbers
The type numeric can store numbers with up to 1000 digits of precision
and perform calculations exactly. It is especially recommended for
storing monetary amounts and other quantities where exactness is
required. However, the numeric type is very slow compared to the
floating-point types described in the next section.
</docs>

However

tradein_clients=# SELECT cast(2^100 as numeric);
+---------------------------------+
| numeric |
+---------------------------------+
| 1267650600228230000000000000000 |
+---------------------------------+
(1 row)
Time: 1036.063 ms

Naturally there is a loss of information here. So my question is

1. Does the specs not require pgsql to print a warning or info ,
will it not be considered silient truncation of data.

2. Is there any way to do such calculation using pgsql, i understand
bc is a better tool for it.

Warm Regards
Rajesh Kumar Mallah.

--

regds
Mallah.

Rajesh Kumar Mallah
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