Maximum of a daily changing cell displayed in another cell.

"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

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

In a spreadsheet a common approach would be to have a table with a column containing each date and another column containing the value for each date.

If your values are in, say, column B, then you could add a Footer Row at the bottom of the table, and for column B in that row put the formula =MAX(B).

SG

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.

Yes, I too would like to know the "simple way to implement this feature" in Excel!

Not sure where you got the idea there was a suggestion for 100 columns. (I suggested a column A for dates and a column B for the associated value for each date.)

SG

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?

Ah, I see, 100 inputs each day. The latest Numbers *should* be able to handle that without becoming sluggish (I think).

SG

I see.

=IF(A1>B1,A1,B1) and you turn on iterative calculations so you can have circular references that iterate to an answer.

You won't be able to do that in Numbers. No iteration.