SQL ABS

Returns the absolute value — strips away a negative sign, leaving positive numbers untouched.

What & Why

ABS(n) returns the non-negative version of a number — a positive number is returned unchanged, a negative one has its sign flipped. Useful whenever only the size of a difference matters, not its direction.

See How It Works

BUSINESS QUESTION

Growth wants the absolute gap between DAU and new users for each day.

date_day	dau	new_users	returning_users
2024-04-01	1240	180	1060
2024-04-02	1315	205	1110
2024-04-03	1288	164	1124
2024-04-04	1392	221	1171

EXAMPLE QUERY

SELECT
  date_day,
  dau,
  new_users,
  ABS(dau - new_users) AS absolute_gap
FROM growth.daily_active_users
ORDER BY date_day;

RESULT — exact output from the displayed Queryflo rows

date_day	dau	new_users	absolute_gap
2024-04-01	1240	180	1060
2024-04-02	1315	205	1110
2024-04-03	1288	164	1124
2024-04-04	1392	221	1171

ABS returns the real magnitude between DAU and new users for each date.

Now You Try

Practice this concept

Growth wants the absolute gap between DAU and new users for every day.

Available schema

growth

Prefix tables with growth.table_name.

date_daydaunew_usersabsolute_gap

growth.daily_active_users

Column	Type
date_day	date
dau	integer
new_users	integer
returning_users	integer
internal_tracking_code	text

growth.users

Column	Type
id	integer
created_at	timestamp with time zone
country	text
channel	text
plan	text
activated_at	timestamp with time zone
churned_at	timestamp with time zone
legacy_user_code	text

query.sql

Intermediate business practice