even though the change is obviously positive.

Is it?

If I had a loss of $10 per share last year and a profit of $5 this year,
how much did my loss increase?

What should the answer be?

Should it be =-(5- (-10))/-10 = 150%?

What if I had a loss of $5 instead. One would normally say that my loss
decreased by 50% (i.e., -50%). If I broke even, my loss decreased by
100% (i.e, -100%). Where then does the sign change come from if I then
have a profit?

Normally percent change requires that both values have the same sign in
order to be meaningful.



In article ,
"JBoulton" wrote:

Do you know of a formula that will give the correct %change regardless of
the sign of the two values? I've always used nested IFs but I think there's
likely a better way.

If the starting number is negative (-10) and the ending number is positive
(5) those calcs produce a negative %change eventhough the change is obviously
positive.