Negative Value is adding on to Positive value for some reason?
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Hi Community,
This might be a super simple one but my maths is simply failing me big time.
Basically I have two values a negative value and a positive value and I need to subtract the negative value from the positive value, however when I subtract them the negative value is being added on to the Positive value and increasing it.
I have no idea how to fix this so any help would be terrific,
cheers everyone
Here is a a sample of the two values and the formula I have tried to use:
Formula: [Value 2]-[Value 1]
Code | CompanyName | Value 1 | Value 2 | Total | 2021 |
ABC021_C | Test Company Limited 1 | -750 | 2000 | 2750 | TRUE |
Solved! Go to Solution.
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Reason: you're trying to subtract a negative number. Recall: x--y = x+y.
You could solve your issue by doing the following [Value2]-abs([Value1]).
This will make Value 1 positive. So rather than 2000 - (-750), it will be 2000 - (750)
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Subtracting a negative number from X increases the value of X. Alteryx is calculating the formula correctly. You might want to add the numbers together instead?
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@BS_THE_ANALYST WOW I'm genuinely embarrassed by my maths cheers for that the issue is fixed now
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If you are always trying to find the 'total' between the two columns. Just add them together.
i.e.
val1: 4000 val2: 3000 total = 7000 -> 4000+3000
val1: 4000 val2: -3000 total = 1000 -> 4000+-3000
val1: -4000 val2: -3000 total = -7000 -> -4000+-3000
val1: -4000 val2: 3000 total = -1000 -> -4000 + 3000
All possibilities covered so you can rest assured adding the two columns will always return the total @Deano478
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@BS_THE_ANALYST Much appreciated i never knew about the ABS function so I was sat here struggling so looks like I learned something new today
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hey again @BS_THE_ANALYST just one more question for you I was working away using the ABS function and one of my calculations is:
Value1: 200
Value2: 8660
But when I try to subtract them using: [Value2]-ABS([Value1]) it does nothing in this case for some reason?
heres a snippet of the output:
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@BS_THE_ANALYST Please ignore my last reply my apologies
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Hi @Deano478 .. so to clarify what the 'ABS' function is doing. It takes any value, and makes it positive!
So if you do this -> ABS(-400) it will pop out 400 as the result
So if you do this -> ABS(400) it will pop out 400 as the result
I think you were expecting to see the number 9060 as your result here because you're trying to work out the TOTAL;
i.e.:
To work out the total, just do this [Value2]+[Value1].
Remember, the ABS function is just to make a number positive! I hope that makes sense? Adding negatives and subtracting negative numbers can be mind boggling!
