diff --git a/src/interfaces/jdbc/org/postgresql/jdbc2/DatabaseMetaData.java b/src/interfaces/jdbc/org/postgresql/jdbc2/DatabaseMetaData.java
index 93b0077191..594aaf5b7b 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/jdbc/org/postgresql/jdbc2/DatabaseMetaData.java
+++ b/src/interfaces/jdbc/org/postgresql/jdbc2/DatabaseMetaData.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import org.postgresql.util.PSQLException;
 /**
  * This class provides information about the database as a whole.
  *
- * $Id: DatabaseMetaData.java,v 1.40 2001/10/25 05:59:59 momjian Exp $
+ * $Id: DatabaseMetaData.java,v 1.41 2001/10/30 05:09:51 barry Exp $
  *
  * <p>Many of the methods here return lists of information in ResultSets.  You
  * can use the normal ResultSet methods such as getString and getInt to
@@ -2014,12 +2014,12 @@ public class DatabaseMetaData implements java.sql.DatabaseMetaData
 			// Decimal digits = scale
 			// From the source (see e.g. backend/utils/adt/numeric.c,
 			// function numeric()) the scale and precision can be calculated
-			// from the typmod value. mark@plasticsoftware.com.au
+			// from the typmod value.
 			if (typname.equals("numeric") || typname.equals("decimal"))
 			{
 				int attypmod = r.getInt(8);
 				tuple[8] =
-					Integer.toString((attypmod & 0xffff) - VARHDRSZ).getBytes();
+					Integer.toString((attypmod - VARHDRSZ) & 0xffff).getBytes();
 			}
 			else
 				tuple[8] = "0".getBytes();