Maptitude Help / Formulas, Conditions, and Functions / Basic Definitions
Basic Definitions
Formula
A formula is an expression that returns some value. It tells Maptitude how to manipulate data in order to calculate a desired result. You will most often use formulas when you create formula fields or fill cells in a dataview with a formula. Here are some examples:
| Formula | Description |
|---|---|
| Population / Area | Divide Population field by Area field to get the population density |
| City + “ ” + State | Combine the City and State fields into one string, separated by a space |
| Round([Avg Cost],2) | Use the Round() function to round the Avg Cost field to two decimal places |
For more information, see Doing Calculations with Data.
Condition
A condition is similar to a formula, but it is in the form of a logical test that returns either the number one (“True”) or the number zero (“False”). You will most often use conditions when creating selection sets or as the basis for making decisions in formulas. Conditions use logical operators to perform the logical test. Here are some examples:
| Condition | Description |
|---|---|
| Population > 50000 | True if the value in the Population field is above 50,000, False otherwise |
| City = “Boston” and State = “MA” | True only if both the value in the City field is “Boston” and the value in the State field is “MA”; False if either or both are a different value |
| HHI between 10000 and 25000 | True if the value in the HHI field is in the range from 10,000 to 25,000, False otherwise |
For more information, see Selecting Features Based on Attributes.
Function
A function is a string, numerical, or conversion operation pre-encoded in Maptitude. Functions can be used in formulas and conditions. Here are some examples:
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Upper(City) | Returns strings in the City field with all upper case letters |
| Max(LastYear,ThisYear) | Returns the larger of the numbers in the LastYear and ThisYear fields |
| Format(Sales,”$#,##0.00") | Converts numbers in the Sales field to strings with a leading dollar sign, commas separating thousands groups, at least one digit to the left of the decimal place and at least two digits to the right |
See the Functions for a list of the available functions and for more examples.
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