GROWRATE

The GROWRATE function calculates the growth rate of a time-series expression, based on the first and last values of the series.

Return Value

DECIMAL

Syntax

GROWRATE(expression [time-dimension])

Arguments

expression: A numeric expression for which you want to calculate the growth rate. The expression must be dimensioned by a time dimension.
time-dimension: The name of the time dimension by which expression is dimensioned. When the time dimension has a type of DAY, WEEK, MONTH, QUARTER, or YEAR, the time-dimension argument is optional, unless loans has more than one time dimension.

Notes

Dimensions of the Result

The result returned by GROWRATE is dimensioned by all the dimensions of expression except the time dimension.

Understanding the Calculation

GROWRATE bases its calculation on the values of expression that correspond to the first and last values in the status of the time dimension. The intervening values of expression are ignored. GROWRATE uses the following calculation.

GROWRATE = (last/first)1/(n-1) - 1

In the exponent, n is the number of values in the status of the time dimension.

The Expression Argument

The following rules apply to the first and last values of expression:

The first value of expression cannot be zero. (This is to avoid a division by zero in the GROWRATE calculation.)
The first and last values of expression must both be positive or both negative. (Or the last value of expression can be zero, regardless of whether the first value is positive or negative.)
Neither the first value nor the last value of expression can be NA.

Examples

Example 14-6 Determining Growth Rate

The following statements limit the dimensions of the actual variable and produce a report.

LIMIT month TO 'Dec95' TO 'Mar96'
LIMIT line TO 'net.income'
REPORT DOWN division ACROSS month: actual

These statements produce the following report.

LINE: NET.INCOME
               ------------------ACTUAL-------------------
               -------------------MONTH-------------------
DIVISION         Dec95      Jan96      Feb96      Mar96
-------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Camping          4,378.09  19,915.13  22,510.38  34,731.63
Sporting         6,297.02  13,180.29  17,429.17  18,819.14
Clothing        87,471.74 107,257.85 133,566.01 127,132.55

The statement REPORT W 20 GROWRATE(actual)produces a report that shows the growth rate of the actual net income in the demo workspace between December 1995 and March 1996.

--GROWRATE(ACTUAL)--
               --------LINE--------
DIVISION            NET.INCOME
-------------- --------------------
Camping                        0.99
Sporting                       0.44
Clothing                       0.13