How to Find Max or Min Deviation?

[rhartwick]

I need to find and report in a cell the max or min value of a list. For example, if I have 3 cells, the deviation from a specification can be - or +. For example, 3 cells might contain the error found, such as -0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%. Or, 0.1%, 0.2% and -0.3%. I need to report in a cell the "maximum" error, whether it be positive or negative.

One possible complication, is that sometimes there might be no error, as all = 0.0%.

I was thinking about some complicated nesting arrangement, with min and max, then reporting the cell address, then showing the contents for that address in the reporting cell. I am trying to keep things simple though, and it seems there should be a way to do this.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[TMS]

One way:

=IF(MAX(A$1:A$3)=MAX(ABS(A$1:A$3)),MAX(A$1:A$3),MIN(A$1:A$3))

Committed with Ctrl-Shift-Enter rather than just Enter

This assumes the three numbers are in cells A1 to A3.

Regards, TMS

[DonkeyOte]

variation on same theme though non-array

=IF(ABS(MIN(A1:A3))<=MAX(A1:A3),MAX(A1:A3),MIN(A1:A3))
confirmed with Enter

where you have an equal on either side of 0 the value > 0 would be displayed.