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Maximum of a daily changing cell displayed in another cell.

A cell is changing daily, once per day.

The changing cell’s maximum has to be kept in a separate cell.

How can this be done in Apple Numbers?


Best regards,

Dan

Mac Pro

Posted on Aug 28, 2020 7:42 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 31, 2020 5:37 PM

"This is unfortunate.

Hopefully, somebody with stronger influence than us, will see how important this simple one iteration command is and push for a change in the future."


Apple has not supported circular equations in any version of Numbers since version 1 (Numbers '08) was introduced in 2007.

Nor was it supported in the spreadsheet module of AppleWorks or ClarisWorks before that.


You can add yourself to the list requesting this feature by using the Provide Numbers Feedback item in the Numbers menu to send a Feature Enhancement request directly to Apple.


Meantime, you might want to take a look at LibreOffice, an open source Office application with spreadsheet functions supporting a much fuller set of functions similar to those in MS Excel, an active development program, and good documentation of its functions.


Regards,

Barry

12 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 31, 2020 5:37 PM in response to TheClover

"This is unfortunate.

Hopefully, somebody with stronger influence than us, will see how important this simple one iteration command is and push for a change in the future."


Apple has not supported circular equations in any version of Numbers since version 1 (Numbers '08) was introduced in 2007.

Nor was it supported in the spreadsheet module of AppleWorks or ClarisWorks before that.


You can add yourself to the list requesting this feature by using the Provide Numbers Feedback item in the Numbers menu to send a Feature Enhancement request directly to Apple.


Meantime, you might want to take a look at LibreOffice, an open source Office application with spreadsheet functions supporting a much fuller set of functions similar to those in MS Excel, an active development program, and good documentation of its functions.


Regards,

Barry

Aug 31, 2020 5:21 PM in response to TheClover

Hi Dan,


This can be done in Numbers using three steps:


  1. Enter the new values in column A, replacing the earlier values in that column.. Numbers calculates the MAX in column B,
  2. Select and copy all cells in column B.
  3. Select cell C2, then go to the Edit menu and choose Paste formula results.


Values in column C will be replaced with the current maximum copied from column B, and will be stable, as they are now isolated from changes by the formula.


The table shows the results after Step 1 of the process. New values have been entered in column A. The previous maximum value for each row is shown in column C.


Values in column B were calculated using the formula shown below the table, entered in A2 and filled down to A10.


Column C contains the previous maximum in each row,


After steps 2 (copy the results in A)


and 3 (Paste formula Results in C) the same table contains these values:



Selecting all 100 body rows of column B and copying the contents of those cells is quick and easy:


With the table active (column and row reference tabs showing):

Click the reference tab for column B to select all cells in that column.

Command-click on cell A1 to remove it from the selection.

Press command-C to copy the selected cells and their contents.


Regards,

Barry



Aug 28, 2020 11:47 PM in response to SGIII

Hi SG


My issue is I have 100 different inputs which are changing daily.

I do not need to have 100 column for monitoring the changes (plus one column for date).

I do not need to know on which date the maximum was happening; just need to know the maximum value.

So, I am looking for having 100 cells only for input data and 100 cells for monitoring their maximum. This is two column of 100 cells each. There is no possibility of error in the input data, as all are input automatically.


Note: in EXCEL there is a simple way to implement this feature, but I need it solved in NUMBERS, if possible. If it does, then opens a whole set of applications to be performed in NUMBERS. Also, it could solve numerically differential equations, as well.


Thank you,

Dan

Aug 29, 2020 12:51 AM in response to TheClover

To help us understand what you are asking, what is the simple way it is implemented in Excel?


Spreadsheet have no memory. They do not remember the prior contents of any cells, only the current contents. A value from yesterday, once overwritten, is gone. For your request, it means there is no history of values from past dates so no history from which to calculate a maximum. Your request seems to go against how spreadsheets work, which is why I ask how it is implemented in Excel.

Aug 29, 2020 5:30 AM in response to SGIII

From the OP's response, it appears it is not just one cell changing daily (as was implied in the first post) but is 100 cells changing daily. I suppose over time this would add up (36,865 cells of data per year including the date column) but it shouldn't slow things down much considering they would be fixed values. It would also be a good record of the past data. But that's just my opinion. Maybe the data entry would be more difficult?

Aug 31, 2020 2:08 PM in response to Badunit

Hi Everyone,


Thank you for your inputs!


If A1 is the ever changing cell and say, B1, is the cell to memorize the maximum of all A1 changing then, in Excel, the command for B1 cell:

=IF(A1>B1,A1,)

... will do max(A1) over time. If A1 is larger than B1, then B1 content is replaced with the A1 value. If A1 is not bigger than B1, the B1 content is left unchanged.


NOTE: In Excel auto referencing is possible. I know auto referencing is a trap for new comers, which could do a lot of mistakes till they handle it well, but, well used, has a lot of potential. Also, auto referencing, is solving all numerical problems requiring step by step iteration (applications field is huge, when comes down to iteration capabilities) and differential equations (like Poisson equation) can be numerically solved. Auto referencing do have one memory step that can be used in spreadsheet. This command, every time A1 cell is changing (as in our basic example) is executed.


I would like to solve this issue in NUMBERS, as it has more friendly user interface than EXCEL.


Best regards,

Dan

Aug 31, 2020 4:40 PM in response to Badunit

Hi Everyone,


This is unfortunate.

Hopefully, somebody with stronger influence than us, will see how important this simple one iteration command is and push for a change in the future.

NUMBERS is good for database manipulation and elementary mathematics.

EXCEL has no serious competition in difficult numerical solving problems.


Best Regards,

Dan



Best Regards,

Dan

Aug 31, 2020 6:52 PM in response to Barry

Hi Barry,


Thank you for your inputs.


I am wondering why Numbers’ guys were so opposed to circular referencing commands!

For me, auto referencing Is a basic, strong and needed command...


Your ingenious solution is a way to go around auto referencing, by using one more cell, C2, which is not a burden. The true issue is that the automated process is broken, as C2 has to copy/paste B2, after every data input in A2 cell.


I have given, at the beginning, an example of one cell changing, then added 99 more to show that filling all 100 columns with data is not practical. Also, one unit of time of one day was used as an example. Unit of time can be any: from 1 msec to months.

So, for short periods of time, copy/ paste is not feasible.


I was giving this example to see if there is any way to solve this wide class of problems, as I am not an expert.

Your answers showed my there is not a real good solution yet, in NUMBERS.


I will follow Barry’s suggestion.


Best regards,

Dan

Maximum of a daily changing cell displayed in another cell.

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