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#1
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
Hi
I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#2
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
=if(a1<0,(abs(A1) + B1)*(-1),A1 + B1) -- HTH, Barb Reinhardt "ship" wrote: Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#3
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
=IF(B1<=0,0,IF(A1<0,-B1+A1,B1+A1)) and copy down
-- Gary''s Student - gsnu200777 "ship" wrote: Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#4
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
On Sun, 6 Apr 2008 17:04:04 -0700 (PDT), ship wrote:
Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) =SIGN(A1)*(ABS(A1)+B1) --ron |
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#5
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
....and...another:
C1: =A1+IF(A10,B1,-B1) -------------------------- Regards, Ron Microsoft MVP (Excel) (XL2003, Win XP) "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#6
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
May be this one
=IF(A1=B1,ABS(A1)+B1,A1-ABS(B1)) On Apr 7, 5:27*am, "Ron Coderre" wrote: ...and...another: C1: =A1+IF(A10,B1,-B1) -------------------------- Regards, Ron Microsoft MVP (Excel) (XL2003, Win XP) "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". * A * * * *B * * * C *-3 * * * -3 * * * 0 *-3 * * * +3 * * *-6 *+3 * * * -3 * * * 0 *+3 * * * +3 * * *+6 * 0 * * * *0 * * * 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!)- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
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#7
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc,microsoft.public.excel
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
=A2+SIGN(A2)*B2
-- David Biddulph "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#8
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc,microsoft.public.excel
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
ship wrote...
In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? .... Another possibility, C1: =(B10)*2*A1 If this is would be a differentiable function at every (x,y) point, then none of the formulas offered so far would be correct. There's an infinite number of polynomials in x and y that could pass through these 5 (x,y) points. |
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#9
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
C = B + ABS(A)
"ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#10
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
You get the Occam's Razor award!
"GerryGerry" wrote: C = B + ABS(A) "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#11
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
How does that work for the second example, with -3 for A, +3 for B, and -6
for the result? -- David Biddulph "GerryGerry" wrote in message ... C = B + ABS(A) "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) |
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#12
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
Doesn't work for the second one, does it?
Pete On Apr 7, 2:09*pm, "GerryGerry" wrote: C = B + ABS(A) "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". * A * * * *B * * * C *-3 * * * -3 * * * 0 *-3 * * * +3 * * *-6 *+3 * * * -3 * * * 0 *+3 * * * +3 * * *+6 * 0 * * * *0 * * * 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship Shiperton Henethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!)- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
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#13
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc,microsoft.public.excel
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
On Mon, 7 Apr 2008 14:09:11 +0100, "GerryGerry" wrote:
C = B + ABS(A) "ship" wrote in message ... Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 Fails on example 2 --ron |
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#14
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
On Mon, 7 Apr 2008 06:46:03 -0700, dlw wrote:
You get the Occam's Razor award! As Mencken once wrote: "There is always an easy solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." "Occam's Razor" fails on example 2. --ron |
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#15
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc,microsoft.public.excel
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Mathematical puzzle (for all you Excel experts)
Hi I have a mathematical puzzle that I cant solve. In the table below, the inputs are the values in columns "A" and "B and the desired output is column "C". A B C -3 -3 0 -3 +3 -6 +3 -3 0 +3 +3 +6 0 0 0 What on earth is the formula in Microsoft Excel that creates "C"? With thanks Ship ShipertonHenethe Clue: If you strip the sign off "A" and then add "A" and "B" together and then apply the sign afterwards, you get the correct answer. But how the heck do you do this in msExcel ? And/or isnt there a better way of doing the mathematics ? (!) =SIGN(A1)*(ABS(A1)+B1)- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Yes, Greg I think you get the prize for the most *intuitively obvious* solution. i.e. in english, then 1. Keep the +ve or -ve "sign" of A 2. Then take A, and either add or subtract B from it (irrespective of A's sign). And yes, well done - that's exactly what I'm looking for ! thanks very much Ship |
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