Question

I am finding absolute and relative differences in excel. I have a compared value of 1.00 (D6) and a reference value of 38.50 (D6). I found the absolute difference to be -37.50 (D6-D9). For the relative difference I took the compared value of 1.00 (D6) and subtracted the reference value (D9) and divided it by the reference value (D9).
My formula looks like this =D6-D9/D9. I got an answer of 0.00%. When I write the formula like this =(D6-D9)/D9 it gives me an answer of -97.40%.
My teacher emailed me and said that 'The relative difference percents can be more than 100% but cannot be less than 100%.' Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

The order of operations says that the correct way to write this equation is

=(D6-D9)/D9

I'm actually doing a very similar project in Excel these days too. Good luck--it's a little tough.
-S