Numeric data is probably the most commonly manipulated type of data. Expressions can perform a basic operation, such as multiplying a price field by a quantity field to calculate an extended price, or more complex calculations, such as a financial calculation that returns the depreciation value of an asset. Use Aggregation Builder to calculate aggregate information, such as totals, averages, medians, modes, and so on, as discussed in Aggregating Data.

Both JavaScript and BIRT provide a wide range of functions for manipulating numeric data. In the expression builder, look under Native JavaScript Functions—Number and Math, and under BIRT Functions—BirtMath and Finance. The following sections describe common number-manipulation tasks and provide examples of expressions.