Is this mysql query legal?

[Anon]

$x = 20;

$eqn = cos(74) cos(29) sin(coln);

$query = "SELECT latitude,longitude FROM zipcodes WHERE $eqn <= '$x' ";

coln is an integer column in the table.

This query does not return any results as it should.

Could this be because I'm using a value inside the table to calculate something for the WHERE clause?

If so, any ideas on the correct query?

Thanks.

Richie.

[Anon]

The query is fine, but the line before it is wrong.

You assigned something to $eqn, but I can't guess what, since coln isn't a php variable, and the trig functions take their arguments in radians, not degrees. Even if you fix the coln issue the product of two cosines and a sine will always be between -1 and 1.

[Anon]

You're right about the trig functions. I had to simplify the actual formula because it's really ugly. I did use deg2rad() to convert to radians in the real code.

coln is a column in the mysql table.

What I'm trying to do is to get mysql to obtain the value of coln, then use it to calculate $eqn. It should then compare this calculated value to $x, and use if in the WHERE clause.

If I do this, I'll get records:

SELECT latitude,longitude FROM zipcodes WHERE coln <= '$x'

But this does not return any records:

SELECT latitude,longitude FROM zipcodes WHERE cos(coln) <= '$x'

Any ideas why?

[Anon]

Try this. Also check if a message is returned by the mysql_error() function after the query. You don't need the quotes around $x, I don't kow if they are causing some of the problem.

SELECT latitude,longitude, coln, cos(coln), $x FROM zipcodes WHERE coln <= '$x'