how would i go about taking two or more fields in a database table and adding them up?


example table - I want to add up scores and display the total in the total column

| NAME | SCORE 1 | SCORE 2 | SCORE 3 | TOTAL |
-------------------------------------------------
|--Bill--|---50----|---20----|----70----|---??---|
|-Dave-|---60----|---10----|----20----|---??---|
|-Josh--|---80----|---50----|----10----|---??---|

you could just add them together of course

select fieldlist,field1 + field2 +fieldn as total from table

so i wouldn't need a column named "total" in my database

Not for the addition you wouldn't

Databases are about a lot more than just storing data. Queries let you look at your data in new ways, and see things that you aren't storing directly. Averages, totals, top 10 lists, and so on.

You might want to create a "view" ( a query saved into the database ) with the formula for "total" though. If you decide to add a Score 4, Score 5, and so on, you could make the change in just one place if the rest of your site / app queries the view instead of the underlying table.

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

Databases are about a lot more than just storing data. Queries let you look at your data in new ways, and see things that you aren't storing directly. Averages, totals, top 10 lists, and so on.

You might want to create a "view" ( a query saved into the database ) with the formula for "total" though. If you decide to add a Score 4, Score 5, and so on, you could make the change in just one place if the rest of your site / app queries the view instead of the underlying table.

this sounds like what i need, i will try to figure it out
from what i see if i add the scores up in the code itself i wouldn't be able to put the total scores in descending order, or would I??

You can order by an column alias ( column AS alias_name ) in exactly the same way as you can using a column name.

i figured out where to put the formulas, but can someone point me in the right direction as to what to put for the formulas, how the format of the formulas go

Depending on how often how many records etc. It may be best for performance to actually create a row total.

Originally Posted by FutileSoul

i figured out where to put the formulas, but can someone point me in the right direction as to what to put for the formulas, how the format of the formulas go

Which formulas have you worked out ?

A simple addition is as I put in post #2