Decimal with a positive exponent is silently stored as its mantissa (Decimal('1E+2') → 1)

### What happens

Binding a `decimal.Decimal` whose `as_tuple().exponent` is **positive** to a `DECIMAL` column stores the **mantissa** and silently discards the magnitude. No exception, no warning.

`Decimal('1E+2')` (== 100) is stored as `1`. `Decimal('1000.0000').normalize()` (== 1000) is stored as `1`.

This is reachable from ordinary Python: `Decimal.normalize()` produces positive exponents, as does `Decimal('1e3')`, and division can (`Decimal(1000) / Decimal('0.25')` → `Decimal('4.0E+3')`).

### Reproduction

```python
from decimal import Decimal
import duckdb, sys, platform

con = duckdb.connect()
con.execute("CREATE TABLE t (v DECIMAL(28,8))")
print(f"duckdb {duckdb.__version__} | python {sys.version.split()[0]} | {platform.system()} {platform.machine()}\n")
print(f"{'input':<10} {'true value':>22} {'stored':>22} {'bound type':<14} ok")
for s in ["1E+2","123E+2","1.5E+3","12.34E+5","999E+9","100","1.23","1E+18","1E+19","1E+20","1E+21"]:
d = Decimal(s); con.execute("DELETE FROM t")
try:
con.execute("INSERT INTO t VALUES (?)", [d])
stored = con.execute("SELECT v FROM t").fetchone()[0]
except Exception as e:
stored = f"<{type(e).__name__}>"
typ = con.execute("SELECT typeof(?)", [d]).fetchone()[0]
print(f"{s:<10} {str(d):>22} {str(stored):>22} {typ:<14} {'OK' if stored == d else '**WRONG**'}")
```

Actual:

```
duckdb 1.5.5 | python 3.11.14 | Linux x86_64

input true value stored bound type ok
1E+2 1E+2 1.00000000 DECIMAL(3,2) **WRONG**
123E+2 1.23E+4 123.00000000 DECIMAL(5,2) **WRONG**
1.5E+3 1.5E+3 15.00000000 DECIMAL(4,2) **WRONG**
12.34E+5 1.234E+6 1234.00000000 DECIMAL(7,3) **WRONG**
999E+9 9.99E+11 999.00000000 DECIMAL(12,9) **WRONG**
100 100 100.00000000 DECIMAL(3,0) OK
1.23 1.23 1.23000000 DECIMAL(3,2) OK
1E+18 1E+18 1.00000000 DECIMAL(19,18) **WRONG**
1E+19 1E+19 0.10000000 DECIMAL(20,19) **WRONG**
1E+20 1E+20 -0.08446744 DECIMAL(21,20) **WRONG** <-- sign flip
1E+21 1E+21 0.00776628 DECIMAL(22,21) **WRONG**
```

Expected: every row round-trips, i.e. `100`, `12300`, `1500`, `1234000`, `9.99E+11`, …

Note the `bound type` column — the inferred **type** is wrong, not just the value. `Decimal('1E+2')` binds as `DECIMAL(3,2)`, which is what gives it away.

### What is and isn't affected

| path | result for `Decimal('1E+2')` |
| --- | --- |
| `execute("… VALUES (?)", [d])` | `1.00` ✗ |
| `executemany` | `1.00` ✗ |
| bare `SELECT ?` | binds as `DECIMAL(3,2)` ✗ |
| pandas object-dtype replacement scan | `1.00` ✗ |
| **PyArrow `decimal128`** | `100.00000000` ✓ |
| **SQL `CAST('1E+2' AS DECIMAL(28,8))`** | `100.00000000` ✓ |

So the fault is specific to the Python value converter; Arrow ingestion and the SQL cast are both correct.

### Root cause

`PyDecimal::SetExponent` ([`src/native/python_objects.cpp`](https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb-python/blob/main/src/native/python_objects.cpp)) routes `exponent >= 0` to `EXPONENT_POWER`. `PyDecimal::ToDuckValue` then does:

```cpp
case PyDecimalExponentType::EXPONENT_POWER: {
uint8_t scale = exponent_value; // positive exponent used as the SCALE
width += scale;
return PyDecimalCastSwitch(*this, width, scale);
}
```

and `PyDecimalPowerConverter::Operation` ([`python_objects.hpp`](https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb-python/blob/main/src/include/duckdb_python/python_objects.hpp)) multiplies the mantissa by `10^scale` before returning `Value::DECIMAL(value, width, scale)` — which interprets the integer as divided by `10^scale`. **The two cancel exactly, so the stored value is the mantissa.**

For a positive exponent the scale should be `0` — such a value has no fractional digits. `exponent_value` genuinely *is* the scale in the `EXPONENT_SCALE` branch (where it is the absolute value of a negative exponent), and that is where the confusion appears to originate. The enum comment is already inconsistent with the code:

```cpp
EXPONENT_POWER, //! How many zeros behind the decimal point
```

Exponent `0` takes the same branch, but `scale == 0` makes the double-application a no-op — which is why every ordinarily-written integer is unaffected and this has gone unnoticed.

**Two further defects in the same converter**, visible at large exponents:

```cpp
int64_t multiplier = NumericHelper::POWERS_OF_TEN[MinValue(scale, NumericHelper::CACHED_POWERS_OF_TEN - 1)];
for (auto power = scale; power > NumericHelper::CACHED_POWERS_OF_TEN; power--) { multiplier *= 10; }
```

With `CACHED_POWERS_OF_TEN = 19` (table holds `10^0..10^18`, [`cast_helpers.hpp`](https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb/blob/main/src/include/duckdb/common/types/cast_helpers.hpp)):

1. **Off-by-one**: at `scale == 19` the loop condition `power > 19` is already false, so the multiplier silently stays `10^18` → the `1E+19 → 0.1` row above.
2. **`multiplier` is `int64_t`** while `value` may be `hugeint`. At `scale >= 20`, `10^scale` overflows int64 — `10^19 mod 2^64 == -8446744073709551616` — producing the `1E+20 → -0.08446744` sign flip.

`1E+38` takes the `width > MAX_WIDTH_DECIMAL` escape to `CastToDouble` and then fails loudly, so only the moderate range is silent.

I'd suggest one fix rather than three: rewriting `EXPONENT_POWER` to fold the exponent into the digits and emit scale `0` removes all three.

### Version matrix — not a regression

Identical behaviour on every version I tested, via `uv run --no-project --with duckdb==X`:

| version | `1E+2` | `123E+2` | `1.5E+3` | `1e20` |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1.5.5 | `1` | `123` | `15` | `-0.08446744` |
| 1.5.2 | `1` | `123` | `15` | `-0.08446744` |
| 1.4.0 | `1` | `123` | `15` | `-0.08446744` |
| 1.2.0 | `1` | `123` | `15` | `0E-8` |
| 0.10.0 | `1` | `123` | `15` | `0E-8` |

The mantissa bug is invariant back to 0.10.0; only the overflow flavour changed. The relevant code on `main` is unchanged apart from the pybind11→nanobind rename.

### Why this one bites

The failure is silent and the magnitude error is large — a value wrong by 100× or 1000×, or with a flipped sign, stored into a `DECIMAL` column with no error raised. `DECIMAL` is the type people reach for precisely when they cannot tolerate that.

We found it in a financial application, where an operator entering a quantity as `1e3` would have had `1000` sent downstream while `1` was recorded. Our data turned out clean (nobody had used scientific notation yet), but the failure mode is not one an application can detect after the fact without an independent record to reconcile against.

### Workaround, for anyone who lands here

Normalise the exponent before binding. Note `Decimal(str(d))` does **not** help — it preserves the exponent:

```python
def bind_decimal(d: Decimal) -> Decimal:
sign, digits, exponent = d.as_tuple()
if not isinstance(exponent, int) or exponent <= 0:
return d
return Decimal((sign, (*digits, *((0,) * exponent)), 0))
```

The digit-tuple rewrite is exact and context-free. `d + Decimal(0)` and `d.quantize(Decimal(1))` also clear the exponent but round under the active `decimal` context. Routing through PyArrow or binding `str(d)` and letting SQL cast both work too.

### Environment

- duckdb 1.5.5 (also 1.5.2, 1.4.0, 1.2.0, 0.10.0)
- Python 3.11.14
- Linux x86_64

Comienza en src/native/python_objects.cpp, en PyDecimal::SetExponent y PyDecimal::ToDuckValue, y luego revisa el manejo de EXPONENT_POWER en src/include/duckdb_python/python_objects.hpp. Ejecuta la reproducción proporcionada del binding de Decimal y verifica que los valores con exponente positivo conserven toda su magnitud al insertarse en columnas DECIMAL, incluidos los casos con exponentes grandes.

Escrito por el modelo de indexación a partir del texto del issue.