Empower Tip: Empower User Question AnsweredTip #435: Difference between rounding and truncating numbers in Empower

QUESTION:

What is the difference between rounding and truncating numbers in Empower?

Great question. Both are doable with Custom Fields.

Let’s see how it’s done!

We start out looking at the Area for peaks in a chromatogram. Note the precision for Area.

Rounding up is a simple mathematical function. If I round 13.5 up, it becomes 14. You can round to either the left or right of the decimal point. Numerical values can be rounded in Empower with a simple Peak Custom Field using the syntax ROUND(Field,#).

The Custom Field is set to round Area to a whole number.

We see the result after the Custom Field is used. For the first peak the Area is 68954.7486830800. Rounded to a whole number that becomes 68955.000.

Truncating a number is a mathematical function which cuts off the number without any rounding performed. You can truncate to either the left or right of the decimal point. To truncate a number in Empower, you use the ROUND function.

The Custom Field is set to truncate 3 places to the left of the decimal.

We see the result after the Custom Field is used. For the first peak the area is 68954.7486830800. Truncated to 3 places to the left of the decimal point that becomes 68000.000.

It’s that easy!