Name
Abs Function
Class
System.Math
Syntax
Math.Abs(value
)
-
value
Use: Required
Any valid numeric expression
A number whose absolute value is to be returned
Return Value
The absolute value of value
. The data type
is the same as that of the argument passed to the function.
Description
Returns the absolute value of
value
. If
value
is an uninitialized variable, the
return value is 0
Rules at a Glance
Only numeric values can be passed to the
Abs
function.This is a Shared member of the Math class, so it can be used without creating any objects.
Example
In this example, the LineLength
function is used
to determine the length of a line on the screen. If the line runs
from left to right, X1
is less than
X2
, and the expression
X2
-
X1
returns the length of the line. If, however, the line runs from right
to left, X1
is greater than
X2
, and a negative line length is
returned. As you know, in most circumstances it does not matter which
way a line is pointing; all you want to know is how long it is. Using
the Abs
function allows you to return the same
figure whether the underlying figure is negative or positive:
Function LineLength(X2 as Integer) as Integer Dim X1 As Integer X1 = 100 LineLength = Math.Abs(X2 - X1) End Function
Programming Tips and Gotchas
Because the Abs
function can only accept numeric
values, you may want to check the value you pass to
Abs
using the IsNumeric
function to avoid generating an error. This is illustrated in the
following code snippet:
If IsNumeric(sExtent) Then Math.Abs(sExtent) ...
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