I'm developing a relational database for storing environmental (biological and ecological) data.
A sub-consultant submitted caribou survey data for which I have one column that records an actual total number of caribou observed, and a second column named "Plus" that stores the "+" plus character in some of the rows. The "+" indicates that there could be more than the number in the Number column.
Here's an example:
| Species | Number | Plus |
| caribou | 4 | |
| caribou | 3 | |
| caribou | 3 | |
| caribou | 3 | |
| caribou | 10 | + |
| caribou | 2 | |
| caribou | 6 | |
| caribou | 2 | |
| caribou | 2 | |
| caribou | 40 | + |
| caribou | 5 | |
| caribou | 6 | |
| caribou | 4 | |
| caribou | 2 | |
| caribou | 20 | + |
| caribou | 10 | + |
| caribou | 15 | |
| caribou | 2 | |
| caribou | 2 |
I don't like the idea of storing "+" in a column and leaving the other rows without a "+" blank (null).
What's the best way of dealing with this problem? Should I use a look-up table instead of a Plus column?
Rupertsland, Canada