Hi, I need to write an Excel formula and I am trying to double check my work.
We are asked to find the difference and relative difference for this account.
So the values are:
$10,000
$10,700
$11,400
$12,100
$12,800
$13,500
etc.
The difference for each is $700
I have two ways to calculate relative difference:
1) difference/original value or
2) new value - original value/original value
If I do the first one, my Excel formula would be =700/10,700 = 6.54%. Assume those numbers are in cells A3 and B3, so the formula would be B3/A3. ($10,000 in A3, $700 difference in B3)
However, if I use the second formula using the first two values, assuming the $10,000 is in A2, $10,700 is in A3, and difference of $700 is in B3. I would get 10,700 - 10,000/10,000 = 7%. Formula would be (A3 - A2)/A2
The $10,000 would be the original value, and the new value would be the $10,700, so why am I getting a different percentage.
When I copy this formula all the way down, I am one year off. So the percent for year 5 in the first formula is in year 6 for the second, and so forth.
Obviously I'm missing something here, but just am not seeing what.
I'm sorry I tried to make this as clear as possible. I tried to copy and paste the spreadsheet but was not able to do so in a neat format.
Thank you.
2 answers