Show specific text based on number value in other cell

[dlawrence]

If anybody can help me with this I'd be very grateful.

What I want to do is basically assign a flag (based on conditional formatting) according to a number value. Sounds simple.

I'm looking at birth rates, in 2010 there might be 100. In 2009 there were 99.

I want to do 3 things. If the percentage change in birth rate between the years is either 0, OR is between 0 and 1, then I want to say it's stable. If it goes up or down by more than a percentage I want it to say "Increase" or "Decrease". It's the between 0 and 1 range I'm having difficulty with.
The formula I have is along the lines of:

=IF(AND(AG9>=99,AG9<=101),"stable"),IF(AG9>101,"Increase",IF(AG9<99,"decrease"))

Not terribly difficult, but's it's driving me mad and I don't have much time..

Would be very grateful for any pointers

[rory]

Guessing at your layout:
=IF(ABS(AG9-AF9)<=1,"Stable",if(AG9>AF9,"Increase","Decrease"))

[dlawrence]

Where ABS is the positve difference between the two? I.e. regardless of whether -1 or +1, the difference being 1?

I've just tried =IF(AG9>101,"Increase",IF(AG9<99,"decrease","stable")), that works, but I like the abs function

[rory]

Correct.