Convert Negative Value to Positive

[RRico]

I have the number -50 in cell: H21, which is the its formula which reads as below:

=SUM(H20-H19)

My wonder is how / if I can automatically always convert whatever is in that cell to a positive number vs. a negative?

Thanks,
Rick

 

[xenou]

Maybe:
=ABS(SUM(H20-H19)) '//Absolute Value

 

[RRico]

It's complaining about the apostrophe before the two forward slashes.

 

[Cindy Ellis]

He was just explaining what ABS meant. Delete everything after the closing parenthesis and you should be OK (although you don't really need SUM...

=ABS(H20-H19)

will do exactly the same thing.
Hope this helps,
Cindy

 

[xenou]

Thanks Cindy - yeah, my geek credentials are growing... It's only the bold part that's relevant. The rest is a mishmash of visual basic and java comment syntax...

 

[Cindy Ellis]

Thanks Cindy - yeah, my geek credentials are growing...

I must not be far behind...my first thought when I looked at the formula was "looks fine to me"

 

[RRico]

Thanks guys, this worked Perfect!