How to get %Change with either positive or negative numbers?

[Mathman]

Hi


Hope you can help.


I need to get the % change between 2 numbers.


Here are all the variations possible


1 2 1/2-1
2 1 2/1-1
1 -2 1/2-1*-1
-2 1 -2/1-1
-1 -2 -2/-1-1
-2 -1 -1/-2-1


Now these are the variations and lets assume the first number is in cell A1 and the second number is in cell A10, How could I have a formulae that would capture the correct return?


Any help would be greatly appreciates.


MM​

 

[shg]

There's no meaningful way to describe period-over-period change when the earlier period is <= 0.

From http://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/doe-help.htm

Net Income percent change is the change from the same period from a year ago. Percent change is not provided if either the latest period or the year-ago period contains a net loss. On the digest page, if a company posts a profit in the latest period against a loss in the year-ago period, the percent change is represented as a "P". Similarly, if a company posts a loss in the latest period against a profit in the year-ago period, the percent change is represented as a "L".

 

[shg]

See also http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/55720.html