Rounding - Why is it so hard?

[ScottShimer]

Attached is a workflow where i have a list of values that may be up to 4 decimal places long.  I want to round them to 2 decimal places for display purposes in a chart.  It seems like I should be able to change the field type to "Fixed Decimal" and designate 2 decimal places.  However,  for some reason that field type has something called a "Scale"?  What is that?  Why is it?

I have tried using the Round(value, 2) function with different types of number fields, but have not found the secret combination to get 2 decimal places.

How can I get the values rounded to 2 decimal places?

And, if anyone knows, why has Alteryx made something that is so simple so counter-intuitive (at least for me)?  

Thanks,Scott

[ChrisTX]

Round(1.25, 0.1) returns a value of 1.3

Round(1.227, 0.01) returns a value of 1.23

Here are all of the math functions: https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/math-functions

Chris

[ScottShimer]

Thanks, Chris,  It is not difficult, if you know the syntax.  But it does not address the other part of my question, what is the "Fixed Decimal" field type for, if not setting a fixed decimal field, and what is scale?  Also, the round function in Alteryx seems very different than other tools and languages I use, it would be good for Alteryx to try and standardize, less deviating provides significant value.

All that said, I do appreciate your feedback!  🙂

Regards,

Scott

[ScottShimer]

As a follow-up, your suggestion about the formula works, but the Interactive Chart tool seems to ignore the formula output.  See the attached screenshots.  The data type in the formula is "Float", Size = 4.  

[fmvizcaino]

Hi @ScottShimer ,

I think Alteryx opted to describe the data formats in a more technical way so it would be 'easier' to distinguish one from another. It is the same issue when explaining the 4 different types of string instead of just calling text.

About the fixed decimal:

Precision refers to the maximum number of digits that are present in the number. 

Scale of a number is the number of digits after the decimal point.

So 19.99 has precision 4 and scale 2.

Best,

Fernando Vizcaino

[grazitti_sapna]

Hi @ScottShimer , change the column value datatype to double then use formula tool using formula Round(value,0.01). This will work, please refer to the screenshot for better clarity.
Thanks.

[ScottShimer · Accepted solution]

Thanks, I did finally get the correct combination of formula and data type, which worked.  I also tried using the fixed decimal after finding the explanation you provided, but could not get it to work the way I expected based on the explanation.

I appreciate your feedback on the why of the complexity and I agree that string data types have the same issue.  I have listened to the training videos and the data types are explained, but I do not understand the need for the complexity?

I believe the tool would be much more intuitive if Alteryx consolidated some of those data types.

Thanks again!

[Martin_F]

Solution

thanks!