it should be storing the number correctly. i haven't used VB for a long time, but in sql-plus you have to change the environment option numwidth to make the number show as expected.

dave

>hi,
>
>what makes the diff in insert statement...
>then too my table is
>create table xyz
>(sal Number);
>
>insert into xyz values (123456789012);
>
>this also goes to exponential
>
>thanx in advance,
>Amol