Using ABS

G

Guest

How can I use the ABS (absolute) function to return an absolute value for a
ranage of numbers that are both negative and positive?
 
J

Jerry W. Lewis

I presume that you are wanting a more involved answer than =ABS(A1), but
your question is not detailed enough for me to know what you really want.

Jerry
 
G

Guest

Well, first of all, you can only use it nested within another function that
will take that range and return a single value (like SUM()) because you can't
return an array into a single cell in Excel. Assuming that is what you want
to do, nest the ABS() function and commit it by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.
For example:

=SUM(ABS(A1:A50)) (entered with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER) will sum the absolute
values of A1 to A50.
 
J

Jerry W. Lewis

You can select a column of 50 cells and array enter =ABS(A1:A50) to
simultaneously populate the entire selection, but it is not clear what
advantage that would have over a cell at a time.

Jerry
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Need Help with "SUM" AND "ABS" in same formula 12
Using sum function with absolute numbers 6
Subtracting positive amts from negative and positive from positive 3
Sum of a range of absolute numbers 4
SUM of ABS values 6
Using abs in reports 1
sum absolute values of a column of numbers in Excel 1
Subtotal of Abs of a range? 3

Top