The difference between twelve minus thirty-six

[Guest]

I'm doing a spread sheet where im i have 3 money columns. The first column
is a price in which is guessed the next column is the actual price and the
third column i want to be the difference.
This all works fine ie 1st Line: 1st column reads $69, second column $24,
third column (difference) $45.
2nd line: 1st column $12, 2nd column, $36, third column (difference) $24.

As you can see i want the difference column to be a positive number every
time, i don't know how to do this, as in the end i want the two difference
lines to add up to 69 and not 21.

Any help would be extremely greatful...

 

[duane]

if col 1,2 3 are a, b, c and for row 2 use this in cell c2

=abs(a2-b2)

and copy down column c

this will give you the absolute value of the difference which what
think you want

 

[BenjieLop]

If your difference is in Column C, the formula is

=abs(A1-B1) where

You can copy this formula all the way down until the range suits your
needs.

 

[Alan]

"taintedpurpleangel" <[email protected]>
wrote in message

I'm doing a spread sheet where im i have 3 money columns. The first
column is a price in which is guessed the next column is the actual
price and the third column i want to be the difference.
This all works fine ie 1st Line: 1st column reads $69, second column
$24, third column (difference) $45.
2nd line: 1st column $12, 2nd column, $36, third column (difference)
$24.

As you can see i want the difference column to be a positive number
every time, i don't know how to do this, as in the end i want the
two difference lines to add up to 69 and not 21.

Any help would be extremely greatful...

=ABS(A1-B1)

Alan.