The PRECTYPE option determines how the compiler derives the attributes for the MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, ADD and SUBTRACT built-in functions when the operands are FIXED and at least one is FIXED BIN.
.-ANS-------. >>-PRECTYPE--(--+-DECDIGIT--+--)------------------------------->< '-DECRESULT-'
However, for BIF( x, y, p, q ) if q is not-zero, then the operation will be performed as a decimal operation and the result will have the attributes FIXED DEC(t,u) where t and u are the decimal equivalents of p and q, namely t = ceil( p / 3.32 ) and u = ceil( q / 3.32 ). In this case, x, y, p and q are effectively all converted to decimal (in contrast to the next suboption which converts only x and y to decimal and does so even if q is zero). The compiler will issue the Informational message 1BM1053 in this situation.