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I have a simple Google spreadsheet that Takes the estimated cost for a service provided and compares it to the actual cost of the service. the equation I have in the Q column is =K4-P4. When the estimated cost (column K) is less than the Actual cost (column P) I need a positive number in Column Q. And I need the reverse of that if K is greater than p. I'm new to spreadsheets and would appreciate any help.

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  • pls share a copy of your sheet – user0 May 17 '19 at 0:09
  • I know this sounds very noobish, but I do not see an option to share or upload a copy of my sheet. Can you let me know how I can accomplish that? – Gene Patrick May 17 '19 at 0:25
  • in your sheet do: i.stack.imgur.com/OTFcv.png then paste here the link – user0 May 17 '19 at 0:44
  • Found it. Here you go. there are only simple add or subtract functions in the sheet. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/… – Gene Patrick May 17 '19 at 1:01
  • the sheet is private you need to share it with that green button on the top right of your sheet and allow editing with anyone who has a link – user0 May 17 '19 at 1:08
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=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(LEN(K4:K&P4:P), IF(K4:K-P4:P<0, P4:P-K4:K, K4:K-P4:P), ))

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If you want to always get a positive value you need to use the absolute value function. In the simplest case you just use =abs(value). But that value can be a number, a cell reference or even a formula.

The absolute value function will always return a positive value. In your case just wrap the =K4-P4 with the ABS() function which would be =ABS(K4-P4)

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