Schema

[Richard Wackerbarth]

>So the denominator goes: smallest divisible unit. (amount atoms?)
>And the numerator: number of smallest divisible units
>
>or in sentence form:
>   The denominator represents the divisor for the smallest countable 
>unit of this currency/asset. For
>example in the United States, it is 100 for $0.01. In Chile it is 1 
>for 1 peso. I believe, but someone
>would need to confirm, that the denominator is constant for an account...
>
>   The numerator represents the number of smallest countable units 
>for this split of the transaction.
>In the US this would be the number of cents, in Chile, the number of pesos.
>	-gordon

"the denominator is constant for an account" is a key aspect that I 
was unable to convince others to utilize.

In each split, it is quite sufficient to store only the integer 
"numerator" which is the count of the particular units for that 
entity.
The denominators are needed in order to convert between various 
entities but not for the actual recording of the transactions 
themselves. They can be stored as a part of the description of the 
"commodity" to which they apply.

This also allows us to use the standard arithmetical functions within 
the database to perform summations, etc.

 From an accounting viewpoint, "freight cars of corn" and "bushels of 
corn" are NOT the same commodity. However, a "manufacturing" process 
can convert one to the other.

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