Integer part of a number

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#21

That makes your suggestion (of applying ABS() to the values) even more surprising! If you get a negative value and you are surprised by it, you had better determine what has gone wrong - perhaps a mistake either in data entry or else in the algorithm used in your calculations. If your deliberations lead you to replace the negative value by a positive one, it would be very naive to imagine that the equivalent positive value is necessarily any more appropriate than any other non-negative value.

If your bank manager reports that you are overdrawn, do you make a correcting deposit or do you merely offer the helpful suggestion that s/he should use correcting fluid to excise the negative sign from your balance? If you believe there is a valuable mineral deposit ten metres under your back garden but you do not fancy digging down to it, do you simply build a ten-meter tower instead and expect to harvest the deposit up in the air? If you have three metres of string available and need to use five metres of it, does that mean you will have two metres left over?

Brian Barker

#22

could anyone tell me which formula I should use for the integer part of a cell to be shown in another cell, and for the value of this cell to be changed, since, for example, 5,77 would become equal to 5?

The answer could be:
a >>write following formula in(e.g.)cellD3" =IF(c3<1;0;INT(c3))"

When I tried to give an answer to Gilles' basic question I proposed "my" formula based on the reality that I have never experienced negative voting. The very interesting (theoretical) discussion this caused shows that there may be several correct solutions.

I can imagine that Gilles (and me too) is curious to know what is the best answer to his problem. Even if I did (I admit) some "overthinking" I cannot see that my answer is wrong.

No, your answer was not wrong, but it was unnecessarily complicated - like adding zero to something: not wrong but pointless and confusing. For non-negative C3, "=IF(C3<1;0;INT(C3))" is identical to and no better than "=INT(C3)".

So, what is the best way for Gilles to continue?

Using INT(), as was suggested in the very first reply (before any of my comments).

Brian Barker