Unit and Calculations

Entering Unit and Calculation for a Variable

The Unit and Calculation of a Variable (if required), each have a dedicated step in the Variable wizard.

Unit and Calculation steps of the Variable dialog

If this is your first time defining a Unit, we recommend reading the Introduction to Units first

Infer/Specify unit

A Calculation Variable can derive its Unit automatically, based on the Variables that it references.

For instance, a Variable called Revenues has a Calculation = Widgets Sold * Price, where Widgets Sold has a Unit of Widget, and Price has a Unit of US Dollars / Widget. In this case, the Revenues Variable can infer that its Unit is US Dollars

Sometimes you will want to specify the Variable's Unit explicitly. In this case, select the Specify Unit option, and the Unit-editing page of the dialog will be shown.

For instance, a Variable called Customers has a Calculation = Customers [-1] + New customers. This Variable references the previous period of itself, so cannot infer its Unit automatically. In this case, you will need to specify the Unit explicitly.

Read more about Units here.

You will only see the Infer/Specify unit step if you have selected the Calculation Variable type. Assumption and Aggregation Variables must specify Units explicitly.