Determie Trend

im looking for a function to determine the trend of sales. i have 24 months
of sales in columns b:y. All i want to do is determine if sales are trending
up or down.TREND gave a numerical value which isn't what i wanted, maybe a
true or false is sales are trending up.

Maybe this:

B1:Y1 = sales figures

=LOOKUP(SLOPE(B1:Y1,COLUMN(B1:Y1)),{-1E100,0,0.000000000000001},{"Down","Neutral","Up"} )

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"John Smith" wrote in message
...
im looking for a function to determine the trend of sales. i have 24
months of sales in columns b:y. All i want to do is determine if sales are
trending up or down.TREND gave a numerical value which isn't what i
wanted, maybe a true or false is sales are trending up.

John Smith -

For sales figures in B1:Y1, try

=SLOPE(B1:Y1,COLUMN(B1:Y1))

If the slope is a positive number, then sales are trending up. Otherwise,
....

However, even though you only want a trend, I suggest that you "look at the
data" first. The TREND function and the SLOPE function fit a straight line,
so it is important to first determine that a straight-line fit is
appropriate. And, if you "look at the data" first (select the data and
insert a simple line chart), you may see a non-linear relationship or
seasonal variation.

- Mike Middleton

http://www.MikeMiddleton.com



"John Smith" wrote in message
...
im looking for a function to determine the trend of sales. i have 24
months of sales in columns b:y. All i want to do is determine if sales are
trending up or down.TREND gave a numerical value which isn't what i
wanted, maybe a true or false is sales are trending up.