PrecisionCalc
xl
Precision
Get Your Numbers Right
xlpABS
Returns the absolute value of a number, with up to 32,767 significant digits of precision. Same as Excel's built-in ABS function, but with high precision.
The absolute value of a number is the number with its negative sign (if it had one) removed.
Syntax
xlpABS(num,format_negative,format_thousands,format_currency,exponential_notation)
| num | Required. The number for which the absolute value will be found. |
| format_negative | Optional. Determines whether
negatives are formatted with a leading hyphen ("-"), or parentheses ("()").
Set to 1 to format negatives with a leading hyphen. Set to 2 for
parentheses. 1 by default.
You can also format negatives with a red font. |
| format_thousands | Optional. Determines whether thousands separators are included. Set to TRUE to include thousands separators. FALSE by default. |
| format_currency | Optional. Determines whether currency symbol is included. Set to TRUE to include currency symbol. The currency symbol will be added either to the beginning or to the end of the result, whichever is appropriate for the locale. FALSE by default. |
| exponential_notation | Optional. Determines whether result is formatted in exponential notation. Set to TRUE to format in exponential notation. FALSE by default. |
Remarks
xlPrecision results are returned as text that look like numbers, not as values that Excel recognizes as numbers. This is because Excel would truncate the results to 15 significant digits if it recognized them as numbers.
format_negative, format_thousands, format_currency, and exponential_notation are all ignored by the 25 SD edition of xlPrecision.
format_thousands and exponential_notation are ignored by the 35 SD edition of xlPrecision.
num can accept both numbers and text.
num can accept text formatted with the local currency symbol and thousands separators, and negatives can be formatted with either a leading hyphen or parentheses.
num can accept text up to 32,767 characters long.
You can use the results of xlPrecision functions as the operands in other xlPrecision formulas without losing any precision, but using them as operands in Excel's arithmetic functions will truncate them to 15 significant digits.
Decimal symbols, thousands separators, and currency symbols are all localized. This means that an xlPrecision formula that returns "$1,234,567.89" in the USA will return "1.234.567,89 €" in Germany, "1 234 567,89 €" in France, "1 234 567.89 kr" in Estonia, and "1.234.567,89Lek" in Albania.
The 32,767 SD edition can only provide a maximum of 32,767 total characters, including all formatting characters such as decimal, leading hyphen or parentheses for negatives, and thousands separators. As a result, it can only return the maximum 32,767 significant digits when the result is an unformatted positive integer. This is due to Excel's limitation of 32,767 characters in a cell. In all cases, the 32,767 SD edition will give you as many significant digits as possible with the formatting you have chosen.
Depending on how many significant digits the edition of xlPrecision provides, the result may be too long to conveniently view. You can view the full result by right-clicking the cell and choosing Format Cells | Alignment | Wrap Text, and widening the column to the width of the screen. An easy way to view the full result without changing column widths or wrapping text is to right-click the cell, choose Copy, and then paste into Notepad or a word processor.
Examples
| Formula | Description | Result |
| =xlpABS(1) | 1 without a negative sign. | 1 |
| =xlpABS(-1) | -1 without a negative sign. | 1 |
See Also