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Calcuating % of increase - negative amts
I am trying to calculate the % of increase in revenue
from one year to the next. If Cell A2 (2003) is $100.00 If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is 400% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This works great but my problem is that in SOME cases, the previous year's revenue is in negative numbers. In that case, it calculates the % of increase correctly but it makes it a negative % instead of a positive one. If Cell A2 (2003) is ($100.00) If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is -600% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This should be a positive 600%. Is there a way I can get the %'s to be displayed correctly? Thanks! Mark |
#2
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Calcuating % of increase - negative amts
Hi Mark
if your previous year is a negative value and you have now a positive value you CAN'T calculate a percentage for this increase. Even an increase from $0.00 to $100.00 in one year can't be calculated (infinite result) -- Regards Frank Kabel Frankfurt, Germany Mark wrote: I am trying to calculate the % of increase in revenue from one year to the next. If Cell A2 (2003) is $100.00 If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is 400% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This works great but my problem is that in SOME cases, the previous year's revenue is in negative numbers. In that case, it calculates the % of increase correctly but it makes it a negative % instead of a positive one. If Cell A2 (2003) is ($100.00) If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is -600% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This should be a positive 600%. Is there a way I can get the %'s to be displayed correctly? Thanks! Mark |
#3
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Calcuating % of increase - negative amts
Phantastic Frank, simply great !
Finest regards, H.G. Lamy "Frank Kabel" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ... Hi Mark if your previous year is a negative value and you have now a positive value you CAN'T calculate a percentage for this increase. Even an increase from $0.00 to $100.00 in one year can't be calculated (infinite result) -- Regards Frank Kabel Frankfurt, Germany Mark wrote: I am trying to calculate the % of increase in revenue from one year to the next. If Cell A2 (2003) is $100.00 If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is 400% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This works great but my problem is that in SOME cases, the previous year's revenue is in negative numbers. In that case, it calculates the % of increase correctly but it makes it a negative % instead of a positive one. If Cell A2 (2003) is ($100.00) If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is -600% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This should be a positive 600%. Is there a way I can get the %'s to be displayed correctly? Thanks! Mark |
#4
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Calcuating % of increase - negative amts
On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:03:01 -0700, "Mark"
wrote: This works great but my problem is that in SOME cases, the previous year's revenue is in negative numbers. In that case, it calculates the % of increase correctly but it makes it a negative % instead of a positive one. If Cell A2 (2003) is ($100.00) If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is -600% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This should be a positive 600%. Is there a way I can get the %'s to be displayed correctly? Mark, What you are trying to do is mathematically undefined and computationally meaningless. In stock analysis programs, the result returned is usually NA. --ron |
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Calcuating % of increase - negative amts
Thanks for the feedback. Of course, my next question
would then be... why wouldn't Excel return the result as #N/A? -----Original Message----- On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:03:01 -0700, "Mark" wrote: This works great but my problem is that in SOME cases, the previous year's revenue is in negative numbers. In that case, it calculates the % of increase correctly but it makes it a negative % instead of a positive one. If Cell A2 (2003) is ($100.00) If Cell A3 (2004)is $500.00 % of Increase in Cell A4 is -600% using the formula =(A3-A2)/A2 This should be a positive 600%. Is there a way I can get the %'s to be displayed correctly? Mark, What you are trying to do is mathematically undefined and computationally meaningless. In stock analysis programs, the result returned is usually NA. --ron . |
#6
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Calcuating % of increase - negative amts
On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:02:56 -0700, "Mark"
wrote: Thanks for the feedback. Of course, my next question would then be... why wouldn't Excel return the result as #N/A? I think you'd have to ask the designers for a definitive answer. My opinion is that although the concept of percentage increase from a negative number is meaningless, Excel doesn't know what you are thinking when you plug in the numbers for it to manipulate, so it can't tell you that, under the circumstances from which you derived those numbers, the concept is not meaningful. Excel is only manipulating numbers. GIGO. However, if you are writing a stock analysis program, you know the origin of your numbers, so it is easy to have your program come up with a NA (or NM or NMR as some do). --ron |
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