Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Niek Otten, post: 3737449"] Well, if you insist......... But a change from -2600 to 5733 really is a minus change, meaning a change of sign. You may have your own interpretations of "positive" and "negative", like "better" or "worse", but there is no way in math you can change a sign other than "minussing" it Example: let's say a is -100 and b = -200. Then the difference between the two is 100 (positive). If you say <my signage should match the signage of the number in column c> do you really mean this is a positive change (improvement)? -- Kind regards, Niek Otten Microsoft MVP - Excel | | Actual Forecast absolute change % change | 5,733 (2,600) 8,383.00 (322.4%) | =(a-b) =c/b | | as you can see, i am getting a negative return for the % change, when its | actually a positive - we did better than forecasted - my signage should match | the signage of the number in column c | | -- | wtrbb | | | "Niek Otten" wrote: | | > Please give examples of your data, your formulas, what you require as results and what you get instead | > | > -- | > Kind regards, | > | > Niek Otten | > Microsoft MVP - Excel | > | > | > | mmm - if it were only that simple! sometimes the variance is negative, though | > | - i'm running into the problem with the formulas that are computing negatives | > | to negatives and pos/neg (where the variance should be a positive one, but | > | returns a negative value instead) | > | | > | (b4-c4)/c4 | > | -- | > | wtrbb | > | | > | | > | "Pete_UK" wrote: | > | | > | > Why not put ABS( ... ) around the formula you currently have, so it | > | > will always show a positive value? | > | > | > | > Hope this helps. | > | > | > | > Pete | > | > | > | > > Hi | > | > > | > | > > am trying to calculate variances in a spreadsheet and am running across a | > | > > problem with the formula returning the wrong value for the cell, for instance | > | > > returning a negative variance when in fact it is a positive variance. i'v | > | > > added another hidden column with the absolute value and would like a formula | > | > > that would show the same value (positive or negative) for the percentage as | > | > > what is displayed in that adjacent cell - any ideas? | > | > > -- | > | > > wtrbb | > | > | > | > | > | > | > [/QUOTE]

Verification