TRUNC

Truncates a number by removing decimal places.

Syntax:

TRUNC(number, places)

returns number with at most places decimal places. Excess decimal places are simply removed, irrespective of sign. TRUNC(number; 0) behaves as INT(number) for positive numbers, but effectively rounds towards zero for negative numbers.

Example:

TRUNC(1.239, 2)

returns 1.23. The 9 is lost.

TRUNC(-1.234999, 3)

returns -1.234. All the 9s are lost.

Application:

Let's consider an application for TRUNC in the context of inventory management for a retail store. Imagine a store that sells items in bulk, but sometimes they need to calculate how many full, complete packages they can create from a given amount of raw material.

Scenario: A pet store sells dog food in 5 kg bags. They receive a large shipment of dog food in a single bulk container and need to determine how many full bags they can fill.

Table: Bulk Inventory

	Product ID	Product Name	Total Weight KG	Bag Size KG
	A	B	C	D
1	101	Dog Food	234.7	5
2	102	Cat Food	150.3	2
3	103	Bird Seed	78.9	1

To find the number of full bags of dog food that can be created, we can use the TRUNC function. The calculation would be Total_Weight_KG / Bag_Size_KG. If we simply perform this division, we would get a number with a decimal, which represents the total number of bags including a partially filled one. However, the store is only interested in the number of complete bags.

Here's how the TRUNC function would be applied:

	Product ID	Product Name	Total Weight KG	Bag Size KG	Full Bags Possible
	A	B	C	D	E
1	101	Dog Food	234.7	5	46
2	102	Cat Food	150.3	2	75
3	103	Bird Seed	78.9	1	78

Explanation:

For Dog Food, 234.7 / 5 equals 46.94. The TRUNC function discards the .94, leaving 46. This tells the store they can fill 46 full 5 kg bags. The remaining 0.94 * 5 = 4.7 kg would be leftover material.
For Cat Food, 150.3 / 2 equals 75.15. The TRUNC function truncates this to 75, indicating 75 full bags can be made with some leftover.
For Bird Seed, 78.9 / 1 equals 78.9. The TRUNC function gives us 78, meaning they can fill 78 full 1 kg bags.

This example clearly demonstrates the practical use of TRUNC to get a whole number result by simply chopping off the decimal part, which is crucial for inventory calculations where partial units are not counted as "complete" items.