Absolute Value in Excel

What is Absolute Value in Excel?

Microsoft Excel worksheet is a combination of numeric values and alphabets. The numeric value is either a positive value or a negative value. Sometimes the user needs to convert the negative to positive values for calculation purposes. Typing manually takes time and sometimes leads to errors. Excel provides a default function called ABSOLUTE to convert from negative to positive values. The ABSOLUTE function is called the ABS function, which returns the data without the sign. It converts the negative numbers to positive numbers, where the negative sign won’t appear while displaying the final result, and the positive numbers remain unchanged. This ABS function is used to return the absolute value of the number.

How to implement the ABS function?

Here is a simple example of converting the given data into a positive number using the ABS function. The steps to be followed are,

Step 1: Enter the data in the required cell, namely A1. The data entered here is a negative number.

Step 2: Select a new cell, B1, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =ABS (A1). Here A1 is referred to as the cell name.

Step 3: Press Enter. The result will be displayed in the cell where the ABS function returns the data as a positive number.

From the above worksheet, the value present in cell A1 is changed from a negative number to a positive number.

 Example 1: How does the ABSOLUTE function work in Positive numbers?

In this example, the effect of the ABSOLUTE function in positive numbers is explained clearly. The steps to be followed are,

Step 1: Enter the data in the required cell, namely A1. The data entered here is a positive number.

Step 2: Select a new cell, B1, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =ABS (A1). Here A1 is referred to as the cell name.

Step 3: Press Enter. The result will be displayed in the cell where the ABS function returns data similar to the data present in cell A1.

From the above worksheet, the ABS function returns a positive number similar to the data present in cell A1.

Example 2: How does the ABSOLUTE function work in Zero?

In this example, the effect of the ABSOLUTE function in zeros is explained clearly. The steps to be followed are,

Step 1: Enter the data in the required cell, namely A1. The data entered here is a zero.

Step 2: Select a new cell, B1, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =ABS (A1). Here A1 is referred to as the cell name.

Step 3: Press Enter. The result will be displayed in the cell where the ABS function returns data similar to the data present in cell A1.

From the above worksheet, the result displayed in cell B1 is similar to that of cell A1 where the Absolute value of zero is zero.

The purpose of the ABS function in Excel has enormous. The ABS function is used to retrieve the result based on the given data.

Example 3: How to find the difference using the ABS function?

The ABS function is used in this example to find the difference between two data sets. The steps to be followed are,

Step 1: Enter the two data sets in the required cell range, A1:B5.

Step 2: Select a new cell, C1, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =ABS (A1-B1). Here A1 and B1 are referred to as cell names.

Step 3: Press Enter. The result will be displayed in the cell where the ABS function returns the result in cell C1, which is the difference between A1 and B1. Similarly to find the difference for the remaining cells, drag the formula toward the cell C5.

From the above worksheet, the data difference is displayed in the column range A1:A5

Example 4: How to find the square root of the Negative number?

To find the square root of the negative number in the general method, the result will be as follows,

From the above worksheet, the result will be displayed as NUMBER ERROR as the value present in the cell contains a negative value. Hence, the ABS function is implemented to find the SQRT of the negative number.

The steps to be followed are,

Step 1: Enter the data in the required cell range, A1. Here the data entered is a negative number.

Step 2: Select a new cell, B1, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =SQRT (ABS (A1)) to find the square root of the given number. Here A1 is referred to as the cell name.\

The above worksheet shows the square root of the given number in cell B1.

Example 5: How to calculate the absolute error for the given data?

To calculate the absolute error for the given data, the steps to be followed are,

Step 1:  Step 1: Enter the three sets of data in the required cell range, A1:C6. The data entered are Month, Actual, and Forecast.

Step 2: Select a new cell, D1, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =ABS (B2 -C2). Here B2 and C2 are referred to as cell names.

Step 3: Press Enter. The result will be displayed in cell D2, which is the difference between B2 and C2. Similarly, to find the absolute error for the remaining cells, drag the formula toward cell D6.

From the above worksheet, the ERROR is founded using the ABS function.

Example 6: Here is an example to find the forecast error based on SUMPRODUCT and ABS functions.

The steps to be followed are,

 Step 1: Enter the three data sets in the required cell range, A1:C6. The data entered are Month, Actual, and Forecast.

Step 2: Select a cell namely C7, where the user wants to display the result. Enter the formula as =SUMPRODUCT (ABS (B2:B6-C2:C6)). Here B2:B6 and C2:C6 are referred to as cell names.

Step 3: The result will be displayed in cell C7, called the absolute error.

From the above worksheet, the ABS function returns the value of 20, where the result is similar to the previous concept.

Summary

From the above tutorial, the various functions and methods to calculate the absolute value are clearly explained.