COBOL MULTIPLY Statement

COBOL MULTIPLY Statement

The MULTIPLY statement multiplies numeric values together.

Syntax

MULTIPLY identifier-1/literal BY identifier-2
MULTIPLY identifier-1 BY identifier-2 GIVING identifier-3

Example Program

       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. MULT-DEMO.

       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01 WS-PRICE       PIC 9(4)V99 VALUE 125.50.
       01 WS-QUANTITY    PIC 9(3) VALUE 10.
       01 WS-TOTAL       PIC 9(6)V99 VALUE 0.
       01 WS-TAX-RATE    PIC V99 VALUE 0.08.
       01 WS-TAX-AMT     PIC 9(5)V99 VALUE 0.

       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
      * MULTIPLY BY
           MULTIPLY WS-QUANTITY BY WS-PRICE
           DISPLAY 'Price after multiply: ' WS-PRICE

      * MULTIPLY GIVING
           MOVE 125.50 TO WS-PRICE
           MULTIPLY WS-PRICE BY WS-QUANTITY
               GIVING WS-TOTAL ROUNDED
           DISPLAY 'Total: ' WS-TOTAL

      * Calculate tax
           MULTIPLY WS-TOTAL BY WS-TAX-RATE
               GIVING WS-TAX-AMT ROUNDED
           DISPLAY 'Tax Amount: ' WS-TAX-AMT

           STOP RUN.

Expected Output

Price after multiply: 1255.00
Total: 001255.00
Tax Amount: 00100.40

Key Points

• MULTIPLY BY stores result in second operand
• MULTIPLY GIVING preserves source values
• ROUNDED performs arithmetic rounding
• ON SIZE ERROR handles overflow