title: Oracle: Convert string to double
body: <p>This is my query for a database pull: </p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT DISTINCT
  TEMPLATE_GROUP_PROPERTIES.PROPERTYTYPE,
  PROPERTY.PROPERTYVAL
  
  FROM
  TEMPLATE_GROUP_PROPERTIES
  
  LEFT OUTER JOIN PROPERTY_DATA
  ON (TEMPLATE_GROUP_PROPERTIES.PROPERTYGROUPID = PROPERTYDATA.PROPERTYGROUPID)
  
  WHERE
  PROPERTY.PROPERTYVAL = :propValue
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Whoever created the database made the <code>Property.Propertyval</code> column a column defined as a string when it is represented as scientific notation numbers (4.0E-3, 2.0E2, etc). I need to convert either the string to a double or the double to a string whatever way would work and I don't know how. I have tried messing around with the <code>TO_NUMBER()</code> function and have found nothing of help so far.</p>