Please retain this undocumented but very useful feature in formulas

Alex G. shared this question 3 years ago
Discussion Open

In playing with formulas recently I discovered a very useful undocumented feature. The following mathematical operators are not mentioned in the Help files but are all recognised:

> Greater than

< Less than

>= Greater than or equal to

<= Less than or equal to

These have great potential because they can be used to establish simple Boolean True/False tests in MindManager, returning "1" as the answer if the proposition is true and "0" if it is false.

For example, if you want to confirm whether or not a numeric topic property [Result] is greater than or equal to a fixed value, say 10, then you would set up the formula [Test]=[Result]>=10. If the value of [Result] is 10 or 11 the answer will be "1"; if [Result] is 9 (or less) the answer would be "0".

At the moment some of these evaluations can be made using SmartRules. However the great thing about the presence of these operators in formulas is that they can be used to directly compare the values of two topic properties, which is difficult to do any other way, eg, [Test]=[Result]>[Average]. They can also be used to set up value ranges and also greatly simplify the integration of formulas and SmartRules.

I can already think of a number of ways these operators can be used which I'm planning to write up on my blog, but before I do so I would like to enter a strong plea that they be retained in MindManager now that I've "outed" them and also to ask if there are any plans to develop the formulas feature further.

Replies (5)

photo
2

Hey Alex,

thanks for sharing this information. There are some more operators:


  • && is AND
  • || is OR
  • == is equal
  • != is unequal

So you can combine something like this:

[b]=[x]>5 || [y] > 5 (X is greater than 5 OR y is greater than 5)

[b]=[x]>5&&[x]>10 (X is greater than 5 AND X is less than 10)

[C]=([X]>5&&[X]<10)||([X]!=[Y]) (X is greater than 5 AND less than 10 OR X is not equal to y)

So here you can also define Boolean expressions.

Best

Jan

photo
1

That’s great! I was wondering if there were more logic operators. I’d tried a few things like &, | and ! but didn’t get the syntax right.

The availability of these operators greatly expands the scope of formulas. I’ll write a post exploring their potential for my blog but it would be wonderful if they could be fully documented in the Help files.

photo
2

I will talk with Marian about the documentation.


All the best

Jan

photo
2

Thanks Jan.

I've written a detailed post on using these comparison and logical operators and exploring some of their potential on my blog: Logic, time and money: more MindManager formula surprises (Part 2) | Sociamind.

In Part 1 I look at exponentiation and Time Value of Money (TVM) calculations: Logic, time and money: some MindManager formula surprises (Part 1) | Sociamind

photo
2

I have added all operators in the MindManager Knowledge Dash: Properties, Formulas & Calculations. This map is attached to this thread: Properties, Formulas and Calculations in MIndManager : Knowldege dashboard | MindManager User Community Support Forum

photo
1

Thanks for this Jan. It's a great resource. I've also referenced my articles on that thread - hope that's OK with you.

photo
1

Hi Alex, this is absolutley OK. I have created this map so that the information can be shared.

And I also agree that the online help should include all operators. I will also talk to my colleagues here.


All the best,

Jan

---