sum(abs(range)) or alternatives
I am looking for the ability to sum the absolute values within a range but the functions which allow this in excel do not currently work in Workiva. Is that an alternative which would allow me to sum the absolute values?
My example would be if we took the below rows as A1-A4, in excel if I were to write =sum(abs(a1:a4)) the result would be 6, similarly I could use = sumproduct(abs(a1:a4)) and return 6, neither of these are able to be applied in Workiva.
A1 = 1
A2 = 2
A3 = -1
A4 = -2
-
Howdy Lee McCarthy,
I believe what you're looking for is the SUMPRODUCT function. Please give this a try and let me know how it goes!
=(ABS(SUMPRODUCT(A1:A4)))0Hi Isabel, that unfortunately gives me the absolute value of the sum but not the sum of the absolute values. So instead of my desired result of 6 in my example it returns 0.
Thanks
0Let's try this Lee McCarthy! I just ran
=SUMPRODUCT(ABS(A1:A4))in WK (sandbox), and got 6.0Ah, that is very interesting - when I try the same thing I get #VALUE! error with a helper message in the formula bar of 'Range references are not valid in single value context'. Are there settings which could be causing the differences in behaviour?
0Hmmm.... Typically that message shows up when the input or argument in a formula or function is designed to handle only one piece of data. And that's not really the case here. I'd want to check the formula for typos.
A test would be for you to open a new sheet, and enter the data presented above, and then put =SUMPRODUCT(ABS(A1:A4)) (cut and paste) in B1 and see if that generates 6 Lee McCarthy10Hey Isabel, thanks for that - please see the attached picture which shows this test case in a new spreadsheet not working. Seems there is something different between our settings/setup?
0Very interesting Lee McCarthy indeed.
I'm going to create a Support ticket for this issue, as I'm unable to touch the files myself. Support will take a deeper dive into the settings and see what's going on. We appreciate your patience on this and one of our Support members will be in touch soon, hang tight!
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