MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
If I had a list of numbers, some positive, some negative and wanted to add them together, ignoring the sign, is there a mathematical term for the result???
For example:
-1
-5
+2
+3
--
11
--
Or has my distant memory of A Level maths let me down?
The sum of them?
'wrong' ?
You wont be 'adding' them if they are different signs to get that answer.
Can I ask why?
somethingion of the absolute values?
sum of the magnitudes?
|-1| + |-5| + |+2| + |+3| = 11
Sum of the square roots of the squares?
Absolute Values - that's the term I was thinking of...
Basically have a whole load of misprocessed entries I and want to measure the total ****-up rather than netting them off and making it look better than it is...
Much appreciated bristolbiker
'Sum of the total ****-up' sounds way better to me 🙂
I win!!! 😀 If you have the data electronically, Excel has an absolute function, so you can sum the column/row as-is or sum the absolute values and then see the difference
why do i get -1?
The absolute value is also known as the modulus of the number.