diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml index 464ce83d30e0b991616ba57dc2dda19db1d6a5ee..3bc6854be659d54460878c51c2bde9cf025e65c9 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml @@ -1651,13 +1651,14 @@ SELECT E'\\xDEADBEEF'; <para> When <type>timestamp</> values are stored as eight-byte integers (currently the default), microsecond precision is available over - the full range of values. When <type>timestamp</> values are - stored as double precision floating-point numbers instead (a - deprecated compile-time option), the effective limit of precision - might be less than 6. <type>timestamp</type> values are stored as - seconds before or after midnight 2000-01-01. When - <type>timestamp</type> values are implemented using floating-point - numbers, microsecond precision is achieved for dates within a few + the full range of values. In this case, the internal representation + is the number of microseconds before or after midnight 2000-01-01. + When <type>timestamp</> values are stored as double precision + floating-point numbers (a deprecated compile-time option), the + internal representation is the number of seconds before or after + midnight 2000-01-01. With this representation, the effective limit + of precision might be less than 6; in practice, + microsecond precision is achieved for dates within a few years of 2000-01-01, but the precision degrades for dates further away. Note that using floating-point datetimes allows a larger range of <type>timestamp</type> values to be represented than