A SpecifiedDecimalType defines an xs:decimal type with two optional attributes: significantFigures and decimalPlaces. The optional decimalPlaces attribute represents the number of places to the right of the decimal point to which the xs:decimal is specified. The actual number of decimal places used may be greater or less than the decimalPlaces attribute. If the value has more decimal places, the extra ones are meaningless. If the value has fewer decimal places, the missing decimal places are implicitly zero. A value of xs:decimal type stored in an XML instance file might not have the same number of decimal places as the original input number. The number of decimal place may be truncated because of trailing zeros. For example a number like 10.000 from a part print might appear in an instance file as {Value}10{/Value} -- using '{' and '}' here instead of chevrons as would be used in an instance file. The xs:decimal representation of a value may have many extra decimal places because of intrinsic computer limitations in representing floating point numbers. For example a number like 3.15 might appear in an instance file as 3.14999999999998. In both cases the original format of the value can be communicated using the optional decimalPlaces attribute: {Value decimalPlaces="3"}10{/Value} means 10.000 {Value decimalPlaces="2"}3.1499999999998{/Value} means 3.15. The value is to be rounded to the number of decimal places indicated with the decimalPlaces attribute. The optional significantFigures attribute represents the number of significant figures with which the xs:decimal is specified. The actual number of digits may be greater or less than the significantFigures attribute. Unlike decimalPlaces, the significantFigures value does not affect the format of a value, but rather its meaning. A value becomes uncertain when the number of significant figures is exceeded. A value of 2.3456789 with 4 significant figures indicates that the real value is uncertain and lies anywhere in the range 2.345000... to 2.345999...
<xs:complexType name="SpecifiedDecimalType"><xs:annotation><xs:documentation>A SpecifiedDecimalType defines an xs:decimal type with two optional attributes: significantFigures and decimalPlaces. The optional decimalPlaces attribute represents the number of places to the right of the decimal point to which the xs:decimal is specified. The actual number of decimal places used may be greater or less than the decimalPlaces attribute. If the value has more decimal places, the extra ones are meaningless. If the value has fewer decimal places, the missing decimal places are implicitly zero. A value of xs:decimal type stored in an XML instance file might not have the same number of decimal places as the original input number. The number of decimal place may be truncated because of trailing zeros. For example a number like 10.000 from a part print might appear in an instance file as {Value}10{/Value} -- using '{' and '}' here instead of chevrons as would be used in an instance file. The xs:decimal representation of a value may have many extra decimal places because of intrinsic computer limitations in representing floating point numbers. For example a number like 3.15 might appear in an instance file as 3.14999999999998. In both cases the original format of the value can be communicated using the optional decimalPlaces attribute: {Value decimalPlaces="3"}10{/Value} means 10.000 {Value decimalPlaces="2"}3.1499999999998{/Value} means 3.15. The value is to be rounded to the number of decimal places indicated with the decimalPlaces attribute. The optional significantFigures attribute represents the number of significant figures with which the xs:decimal is specified. The actual number of digits may be greater or less than the significantFigures attribute. Unlike decimalPlaces, the significantFigures value does not affect the format of a value, but rather its meaning. A value becomes uncertain when the number of significant figures is exceeded. A value of 2.3456789 with 4 significant figures indicates that the real value is uncertain and lies anywhere in the range 2.345000... to 2.345999...</xs:documentation></xs:annotation><xs:simpleContent><xs:extension base="xs:decimal"><xs:attribute name="decimalPlaces" type="xs:nonNegativeInteger"><xs:annotation><xs:documentation>See documentation of SpecifiedDecimalType.</xs:documentation></xs:annotation></xs:attribute><xs:attribute name="significantFigures" type="xs:nonNegativeInteger"><xs:annotation><xs:documentation>See documentation of SpecifiedDecimalType.</xs:documentation></xs:annotation></xs:attribute></xs:extension></xs:simpleContent></xs:complexType>
