Talk:Documentation/Calc Functions/DDB

SF Comments

(1) Summary. Suggest replacing with “Calculates the depreciation of an asset for a given period using the declining balance method. This is an accelerated depreciation method with greater depreciation at the beginning of an asset’s lifetime and less towards the end. If the selectable depreciation factor is set to 2, this gives the double declining balance method.”.

(2) Returns. Insert space before the open bracket. “Currency” does not require an uppercase letter. Change “arithmetic-declining” to “declining balance”. Do we need to say that the currency unit is that used for the Cost and Salvage values?

(3) Arguments, Cost and Salvage. Is it worth saying that these values should be in the same currency unit?

(4) Arguments, Factor. Suggest replacing with – “Factor is a positive real number or a reference to the cell containing that number which specifies the depreciation factor. If a value is not specified, the default is 2. If factor=2, then the double declining balance method is used.”.

(5) Arguments, 1st bullet. Re-word to reflect that you get an error if Cost < 0 or Factor <= 0.

(6) Arguments, general. Inspecting the code, I have discovered that entering a Salvage value that is greater than the Cost value will cause an error.

(7) Additional details. If you read the ODF carefully, it implies that there are different ways to do this one. Having inspected the code, I suspect that we have implemented the algorithm described in the ODF for non-integer period values. In view of that, I would recommend that we replace the material here using the simple description on https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Calc:_DDB_function.

(8) Examples, general. Would it simplify the examples and be more realistic if you used Life = 5 (5 years) and Period = 2 (to give the depreciation in the 2nd year)? Are many people really interested in monthly depreciation?

(9) Examples, 1st example. Please re-word the 2nd sentence to reflect that it is the salvage value that has the value 1. In the 3rd sentence, insert “depreciation” before “factor”. In final sentence, change “fixed-declining depreciation” to “declining balance depreciation”. Also, the last sentence contains a spurious character before the digit 2. Shouldn’t the description state that you are calculating the value for period (month) 12?

(10) Examples, 2nd example. Change “arithmetic-declining” to “declining balance”. Insert “of” before “Factor”.

--Stevefanning (talk) 2020-11-15T15:56:30 (UTC)

Laura Comments

Edited the page addressing SF comments.