RE NXT Query Webinar - Level Up Your Blackbaud RE NXT Queries

@Alex Wong:

Hi, I signed up for this but didn't get a chance to see it “live”, so I just watched the replay.

Intent of this post is to help those that may be thinking the same question as I have previously got asked before.. do i need paranthesis? I thought it would be best if the session actually went into a query that NEED to use paranthesis and situation where “nested” paranthesis is needed and how to handle so others can get more advanced with their querying.

This is the criteria that was demo-ed

in simple terms, the query is like: A OR (B AND C AND D AND E) OR (F AND G) OR H
where
A is the total amount of gifts_1 ≥ $5000
B is the Gift amount ≥ $1000
C is the GIft Date = this calendar year
etc

While I understand why the intructor did this to make it easier to understand (I did skip some minutes at the end of the meeting, so I don't know if the instructor actually mention it or not), and “maybe” a good practice (maybe b/c paranthesis may be better use when truly needed on very complex criteria), this query is the same as:

A OR B AND C AND D AND E OR F AND G OR H

without any paranthesis. As logic OR is like + (addition) in math and AND is like * (multiplication) in math…

A OR (B AND C AND D AND E) OR (F AND G) OR H is like 1 + (2 * 3 * 4 * 5) + (6 * 7) + 8

A OR B AND C AND D AND E OR F AND G OR H is like 1 + 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 + 6 * 7 + 8

since math order of operation (logic order of operation) is multiply (AND) before addition (OR), even without the paranthesis, 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 and 6 * 7 will be calcuated first before they get added together. screenshots from excel to proof this point:

It is interesting, thank you for sharing! In one of the trainings I did a little while ago the instructor said when you have both AND & OR in a query you have to use parenthesis. Your example is the proof you don't always have to. I will use your tip of treating OR as addition, and AND as multiplication going forward. But I am wondering, what would a similar scenario need to be for it to require parenthesis? Wouldn't the ‘math logic’ be applied to all cases thus rendering the parenthesis unnecessary?