Number Functions

Function

Syntax

Description

ABS

ABS(number)

Returns the absolute value of the given number.

Examples:

ABS(-7) = 7
ABS([Budget Variance])

The second example returns the absolute value for all the numbers contained in the Budget Variance field.

ACOS

ACOS(number)

Returns the arc cosine of the given number. The result is in radians.

Example:

ACOS(-1) = 3.14159265358979

ASIN

ASIN(number)

Returns the arc sine of a given number. The result is in radians.

Example:

ASIN(1) = 1.5707963267949

ATAN

Returns the arc tangent of a given number. The result is in radians.

Example:

ATAN(180) = 1.5652408283942

ATAN2

ATAN2(y number, x number)

Returns the arc tangent of two given numbers (x and y). The result is in radians.

Example:

ATAN2(2, 1) = 1.10714871779409

CEILING

CEILING(number)

COS

COS(number)

Returns the cosine of an angle. Specify the angle in radians.

Example:

COS(PI( ) /4) = 0.707106781186548

COT

COT(number)

Returns the cotangent of an angle. Specify the angle in radians.

Example:

COT(PI( ) /4) = 1

DEGREES

DEGREES(number)

Converts a given number in radians to degrees.

Example:

DEGREES(PI( )/4) = 45.0

DIV

DIV(integer1, integer2)

Returns the integer part of a division operation, in which integer1 is divided by integer2.

Example:

DIV(11,2) = 5

EXP

EXP(number)

Returns e raised to the power of the given number.

Examples:

EXP(2) = 7.389
EXP(-[Growth Rate]*[Time])

FLOOR

FLOOR(number)

HEXBINX

HEXBINX(number, number)

Maps an x, y coordinate to the x-coordinate of the nearest hexagonal bin. The bins have side length 1, so the inputs may need to be scaled appropriately.

HEXBINX and HEXBINY are binning and plotting functions for hexagonal bins. Hexagonal bins are an efficient and elegant option for visualizing data in an x/y plane such as a map. Because the bins are hexagonal, each bin closely approximates a circle and minimizes variation in the distance from the data point to the center of the bin. This makes the clustering both more accurate and informative.

Example:

HEXBINX([Longitude], [Latitude])

HEXBINY

HEXBINY(number, number)

Maps an x, y coordinate to the y-coordinate of the nearest hexagonal bin. The bins have side length 1, so the inputs may need to be scaled appropriately.

Example:

HEXBINY([Longitude], [Latitude])

LN

LN(number)

Returns the natural logarithm of a number. Returns Null if number is less than or equal to 0.

LOG

LOG(number [, base])

Returns the logarithm of a number for the given base. If the base value is omitted, base 10 is used.

MAX

MAX(number, number)

Returns the maximum of the two arguments, which must be of the same type. Returns Null if either argument is Null. MAX can also be applied to a single field in an aggregate calculation.

Examples:

MAX(4,7)
MAX(Sales,Profit)
MAX([First Name],[Last Name])

MIN

MIN(number, number)

Returns the minimum of the two arguments, which must be of the same type. Returns Null if either argument is Null. MIN can also be applied to a single field in an aggregate calculation.

Examples:

MIN(4,7)
MIN(Sales,Profit)
MIN([First Name],[Last Name])

PI

PI( )

Returns the numeric constant pi: 3.14159.

POWER

POWER(number, power)

Raises the number to the specified power.

Examples:

POWER(5,2) = 52 = 25
POWER(Temperature, 2)

You can also use the ^ symbol:

5^2 = POWER(5,2) = 25

RADIANS

RADIANS(number)

Converts the given number from degrees to radians.

Example:

RADIANS(180) = 3.14159

ROUND

ROUND(number, [decimals])

Rounds numbers to a specified number of digits. The decimals argument specifies how many decimal points of precision to include in the final result. If decimals is omitted, number is rounded to the nearest integer.

Example:

This example rounds every Sales value to an integer:

ROUND(Sales)

Some databases, such as SQL Server, allow specification of a negative length, where -1 rounds number to 10's, -2 rounds to 100's, and so on. This is not true of all databases. For example, it is not true of Excel or Access.

Note: because ROUND may run into issues due to the underlying floating point representation of numbers—such as 9.405 rounding to 9.40—it may be preferable to format the number to the desired number of decimal points rather than rounding. Formatting 9.405 to two decimal places will yield the expected 9.41.

SIGN

SIGN(number)

Returns the sign of a number: The possible return values are -1 if the number is negative, 0 if the number is zero, or 1 if the number is positive.

Example:

If the average of the profit field is negative, then

SIGN(AVG(Profit)) = -1

SIN

SIN(number)

Returns the sine of an angle. Specify the angle in radians.

Examples:

SIN(0) = 1.0
SIN(PI( )/4) = 0.707106781186548

SQRT

SQRT(number)

Returns the square root of a number.

Example:

SQRT(25) = 5

SQUARE

SQUARE(number)

Returns the square of a number.

Example:

SQUARE(5) = 25

TAN

TAN(number)

Returns the tangent of an angle. Specify the angle in radians..

Example:

TAN(PI ( )/4) = 1.0

ZN

ZN(expression)

Returns the expression if it is not null, otherwise returns zero. Use this function to use zero values instead of null values.

Example:

ZN([Profit]) = [Profit]