Calculations

Movie Magic Budgeting has powerful calculation capabilities that allow your budget to stay up to date and accurate no matter where you are making changes.

Calculations on Detail Lines

Each Detail line will calculate a subtotal value that is a product of the Amt, X, Rate, and 4x columns. These values may be impacted by choices made in the Unit & Curr columns.

Each calculated cell can contain a formula that uses basic mathematical operations (addition +, subtraction -, multiplication *, division /) with typed values or the calculated value of any Globals.

See the Columns article for how to determine which columns are visible.

Calculations on Setup Tables

The Setup Tables for Fringes and Globals make use of the same calculation features when defining Rate or Calculation fields.

Editing Cells

To edit the contents of a cell in the budget or the setup tables, Select the cell you want to edit. You can immediately begin typing to overwrite the current contents of the cell. You can also press F2 or DOUBLE CLICK the cell to make specific edits.

If the contents of the cell are wider than the current column width you will see a preview of the entire cell contents above the cell. Edits must still be made in the cell itself. If you're unsure of where your cursor is, try pressing the LEFT ARROW or RIGHT ARROW keys to bring it into focus.

Screenshot: A cell being edited in the Detail level with a long calculation string.

Calculation Errors

In some cases a cell may get into an error state. This is more common with imported budgets, but certain cases can still cause an error in MMB10.

If a cell in the budget or setup tables presents an #ERR message then the calculation in that cell (or a dependent item) needs to be corrected.

The most common reasons for this are:

  • The cell is trying to 'divide by zero.'
    • This may occur if it's dividing by a Global that has been changed to 0.
  • A Global contains a circular reference.
    • i.e., one global references another global that references the original global
  • There is a syntax error in the cell.
    • i.e., 1++1 or some other equation that doesn't make sense.
    • This may occur when pasting formulas from non-validated sources.