# calculate

## Overview

The `calculate` statement is used to perform arithmetic operations using literal and column values.

## Syntax

**`calculate column`***`ResultCol`***`as`** *`source operation source`*

where *source* is either of **`column`**`colName` or **`value`**`literal_value`

and *operation* is one of the characters **`+ - * / %`** for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and modulo respectively.

{% hint style="info" %}
There must be whitespace on each side of the \_operation\`\_character
{% endhint %}

Examples:\
`calculate column ResultCol as column Amount * value 1.2`\
`calculate column Net as column total - column cogs`\
`calculate column constant_7 as value 3.5 + value 3.5`

## Details

The *ResultCol* parameter is the name of the column that will hold the results. This column may or may not exist (if necessary it will be created automatically).

Both of the two *source* parameters can specify a literal value, or the name of a column containing the value to use when performing the calculation.

* A literal value is specified using **`value`***`N`* where *N* is the literal number required
* A column name is specified using **`column`***`colName`* where *ColName* is the name of the column containing the values required

{% hint style="info" %}
The *ResultCol* may be the same as a column specified by one of the *source* parameters in which case any existing values in it will be updated with the result of the calculation.
{% endhint %}

### Additional notes:

* Any blank or non-numeric values in a source column will be treated as 0
* An attempt to divide by zero will result in 0
* When performing a modulo operation, the two source values are rounded to the nearest integer first
* If the result column already exists then if [option overwrite](/3.5.4/data-pipelines/transform/language/option.md) is set to `no`, only blank cells in the result column will be updated.

## Examples

* Add 1.5 to the values in the Rate column:

`calculate column Rate as column Rate + value 1.5`

* Multiply the values in the Rate column by those in the Quantity column
* Store the result in a new column called Charge

`calculate column Charge as column Rate * column Quantity`


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