>>Hi John
>>
>>I'm neither an economist nor a mathematician. Exposure to business and accounting systems may be enough. Assuming the margin is the difference between the cost and the sales as a percentage of the sales price, doesn't this work?
>>
>>abs(tnPrice-tnCost)/tnPrice*100
>>
>>HTH
>
>I've already tried that. What is happening is:
>
>Assuming 2.00 cost and 8.00 price, the formula calculates the margin at 75%.
>Assuming 2.00 price and 8.00 cost, the formula says its -300%.
>
>Shouldn't that be -75% in the second or am I not understanding the process or the math?

I'm trying to understand the economic issue here. In light of that, what would be the difference between a normal margin and a (negative) margin due to the cost being higher than the price?