Is there a reason Alteryx generates an incorrect answer when using a subtraction formula?

Question

I am using a simple subtraction formula after joining records by position to find the difference between budget amounts(column1) and actual amounts(column 2). I have 6 accounts with their budget and actual figures. 5/6 accounts are subtracted correctly and show the correct answer, but 1/6 accounts is giving the wrong subtraction answer. I was wondering if there is any reason as to why only 1 of the accounts is producing the wrong answer when the rest are correct. Both the Budget and Actual columns are formatted as numbers so the data type does not seem to be the issue.

GiuseppeC · Accepted Answer

Hi @sbhavsa4,

what type are assigning to the New Column generated by the Formula tool? It could be that the type that you are choosing is not big enough in size to contain the actual value for 1 of the accounts and be fine with the others.

If you could post some values and the settings of the formula, this would help with the troubleshooting.

(From a Browse Tool, in the bottom Results Window, on the right hand side you'll see a disk icon that allows you to export the data, if this helps).

Giuseppe

danilang · Accepted Answer

Hi @sbhavsa4

Can you provide some sample data?  Just include the account values and details of the process that you use to subtract?

Dan

sbhavsa4 · Accepted Answer

It was a rounding error but I managed to find a solution online