COBOL Tutorial – Arithmetic Operators

Q. How do you perform Arithmetic in COBOL? For example, how do you write a simple program that calculates the Interest to be paid on a Principal p?

You often need to do Math in COBOL. You can perform Arithmetic in COBOL using Arithmetic Operators. When you perform some arithmetic on two or more numeric quantities, such an expression is called an Arithmetic Expressions. There are 4 main Arithmetic Operators in COBOL – ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY and DIVIDE. You can even write complex arithmetic expressions by using the COMPUTE verb. I have written about the syntax of each operator, followed by examples and some results.

Q. How’z the ADD Operator used in COBOL. Show me some stuff...

The ADD operator can be used to add two or more quantities. In the assembly language, we write the instruction ADD A B to find the sum of A and B. The final sum is stored in A. On the same lines, the ADD Operator in COBOL has the following syntax : Syntax ADD one-quantity TO second-quantity The final sum result is stored in the second-variable. For example, if A=10, and I write ADD 5 TO A After performing the above step, the computer adds 5 to the value of A, so A=15. Suppose a variable B=5, then I may also write ADD B TO A In this case, too, the contents of B is added to A, and the final sum is stored in A. So, A=15. Example Result