Summing a Column - Net and Absolute Values

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BRob - 08 May 2008 12:42 GMT

I've got a column of positive and negative numbers that I want to total in
two ways :

- net - ie just natural addition which I can do with the SUM formulae
- absolute - ie the total being based on an assumption that all numbers are
positive

A slightly messy way (because of the design of the spreadsheet) is to create
an extra column of absolute values and sum that.

So my question is 'Is there are formulae I can use to do an absolute sum on
those values directly?'

TIA

Rob

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Pete_UK - 08 May 2008 13:03 GMT

Suppose the numbers are in column A, you can try this array* formula:

=SUM(ABS(A1:A10))

Adjust the range to suit.

* An array fromula must be committed using the key combination of CTRL-
SHIFT-ENTER (CSE) instead of the usual ENTER. If you do this correctly
then Excel will wrap curly braces { } around the formula when viewed
in the formula bar - you must not type these yourself. If you
subsequently amend/edit the formula you must use CSE again.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On May 8, 12:42 pm, "BRob" <del**eteto-hash#rfj1...@ntlworld.com>
wrote:

> I've got a column of positive and negative numbers that I want to total in
> two ways :
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Rob

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Ron Coderre - 08 May 2008 13:06 GMT

With your list of pos/neg values in A1:A10

This formula converts all values to positive
and returns the sum:
=SUMPRODUCT(ABS(A1:A10))

Does that help?
Post back if you have more questions.
--------------------------

Regards,

Ron
Microsoft MVP (Excel)
(XL2003, Win XP)

> I've got a column of positive and negative numbers that I want to total in
> two ways :
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Rob

Reply to this Message

JE McGimpsey - 08 May 2008 13:07 GMT

One way (Array-entered: CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER or CMD-RETURN):

=SUM(ABS(A1:A10))

> I've got a column of positive and negative numbers that I want to total in
> two ways :
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Rob

Reply to this Message

Mike H - 08 May 2008 13:08 GMT

For the absolute sum try

=SUM(IF(ISNUMBER(ABS(A1:A20)),ABS(A1:A20),FALSE))

Which is an aeeay so commit with
Ctrl+Shift+Enter
The inner ISNUMBER isn't strictly necessary but takes care of any odd error
values.

Mike

> I've got a column of positive and negative numbers that I want to total in
> two ways :
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Rob

Reply to this Message