Difference

Difference is a mathematical function that returns the absolute value of the difference of a numeric value, row, or column subtracted from another numeric value, row, or column. This is also known as the variance. The function syntax is:

Difference(arg1, arg2)

where arg2 is subtracted from arg1 and are expressed by one or more of the following arguments:

Argument

Description

numeric

A numeric value. For example, Difference (3, 5) returns the absolute value 2. Numeric values can include decimals and negative values. For a description of numeric arguments, see Numeric Arguments.

row, column, or reference

A pointer to a row, column, or cell within a grid. References can be specified in several ways. The reference syntax is: GridName.GridElement[segment(range)].Property

For more information, see Row, Column, or Cell Reference Arguments.

The following example returns the difference of two rows on grid1 and grid2:

Difference( grid1.row[1], grid2.row[6] )

function

An embedded function. For a list of mathematical functions, see Mathematical Functions.

Note:

The Difference function returns the absolute value of arg2 subtracted from arg1, whereas the minus sign in subtraction negates a number.

Examples:

The following example returns the absolute value of 8:

  Difference(3, -5)

The following example calculates the difference of two aggregate columns:

  Difference( column[E], column[G] )

The following example calculates the difference of two columns that are located on different grids, grid1 and grid2:

  Difference(grid1.column[E], grid2.column[E])

Note:

You can type the text label “Difference” or “Variance”.