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Date/Time: Thu, 26 Jun 2025 04:20:28 +0000



Spreadsheet programming question - FRACTIME

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[2021-12-04 20:07:01]
User183724 - Posts: 194
I have a 5 minute chart with a spreadsheet study.

In column AN, I have this formula
=FRACTIME(A3)-FRACTIME(A4). I'm looking for the difference between the last two FRACTIMES.

Im getting the following results:

0.00347222222222221 row 3
0.00347222222222221 row 4
0.003472222210648135 <========= ...
0.003472222233796285 <=========
0.00347222222222221
0.00347222222222221
0.003472222222222321 <=========
0.00347222222222221
0.00347222222222221
0.00347222222222221
0.00347222222222221
0.003472222210648135 <=========
0.003472222233796285 <=========
0.00347222222222221
0.00347222222222221
0.003472222222222321 <=========
0.00347222222222221

0.00347222222222221 appears to me to be the 'correct' answer and those 'hiccups' are where the sheet updates. I understand they are double float numbers and will be slightly different based on updates.

Could someone with better math skills please explain just how long the updates take and maybe a little on the time keeping in general.

Ive read all I can find on time keeping including the following but cant quite make sense of it.
Spreadsheet Functions: Serial DateTime Values
Spreadsheet Example Formulas and Usage

thx tim
[2021-12-04 22:34:52]
Sawtooth - Posts: 4230
Column A is the bar's Open timestamp, so on a 5 min chart, the difference is always going to be 5 min.

0.003472222222222222 is 5 min (300 sec) in SerialDateTime
5/1440 = 0.003472222222222222
300/86400 = 0.003472222222222222

If you want to compare the current bar's Open time to the current intrabar time, use J41:
=FRACTIME($J$41)-FRACTIME(A3)

Or you could use the Bar Time Duration study.
[2021-12-06 16:19:07]
John - SC Support - Posts: 40605
The results you see that are not quite "perfect" is due to floating point error. Refer to the following:
Working with Spreadsheets: Floating-Point Values and Comparisons When Using the Spreadsheet Study
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