Absolute / Computation Layer

Calculate the absolute value (magnitude) of numeric values in a column. Similar to pandas abs(), numpy.abs(), or R's abs() function. Returns non-negative values preserving the original type.

Mathematical form: $y_{i} = ∣ x_{i} ∣ = {x_{i} - x_{i} if x_{i} \geq 0 if x_{i} < 0$

Common applications:

Distance calculations (position error)
Price differences (market spread)
Temperature variations (delta_T)
Signal strength (amplitude)
Error magnitudes (residuals)
Deviation analysis (from mean)
Vector magnitudes

Note: Preserves null values and handles all numeric types appropriately.

Table

Transforms

[, ...]

Select

column

The numeric column to compute absolute values. Examples:

Financial (|-5.25| → 5.25 profits/losses)
Scientific (|-2.7| → 2.7 measurement error)
Statistical (|-1.5| → 1.5 z-score)
Engineering (|-10| → 10 displacement)

Must be a numeric column type

Name for the new column. If not provided, the system generates a unique name. If AsColumn matches an existing column, the existing column is replaced. The name should follow valid column naming conventions.