asked on

Get the closest number

Hi,
Need to find the closest number to numbers in one table to the list of numbers in another table (ms access). For instance, I have 2 tables:
TABLE A
ID NAME PRICE
1 ABC 200
2 KSS 280
3 LKI 390
3 LKI 375
3 LKI 250
4 POY 600
4 POY 576
5 JIK 200

But table B has uniquie ID and single row for every Price.
TABLE B
ID NAME PRICE
1 ABC 300
2 KSS 260
3 LKI 379
4 POY 492
5 JIK 280

So when I join these 2 tables using the ID, I would like to get the closest Price in Table A. In other words, If Table A has multiple Prices then I want to see only the Price that is closest to the Price from Table B. So here is what I would like to see in the final results:
FINAL RESULTS
ID NAME PRICE
1 ABC 200
2 KSS 280
3 LKI 375
4 POY 576
5 JIK 200

Thanks for your help

Patrick Matthews

What would you do in this case?TableAID NAME PRICE6 XYZ 2506 XYZ 350TableBID NAME PRICE6 XYZ 300In this case, there are two records that could stake a claim to being "closest"...

Patrick Matthews

Is it safe to assunme that TableB has at most one record for any given ID?

dwe761

what do you want if one of the IDs has a price higher that is the same difference as one lower.

For instance:

TABLE A
ID NAME PRICE
3 LKI 300
3 LKI 100

TABLE B
ID NAME PRICE
3 LKI 200

Patrick Matthews

dwe761,I see we think alike :)Patrick

dwe761

matthewspatrick:
Except that you usually type 2 minutes faster than I do.

(-:

dwe761

select x.ID, x.Name, MIN(x.Price)
FROM
(
      SELECT b.ID, b.Name, a.Price, MIN(ABS(b.Price - a.Price)) AS diff
      FROM TableA AS a INNER JOIN
                                                 TableB AS b ON a.ID = b.ID
      GROUP BY b.ID, b.Name, a.Price
) x
INNER JOIN
(
      SELECT b.ID, b.Name, MIN(ABS(b.Price - a.Price)) AS diff
      FROM TableA AS a INNER JOIN
                                                 TableB AS b ON a.ID = b.ID
      GROUP BY b.ID, b.Name
) y
ON x.ID = y.ID and x.Name = y.Name and x.diff = y.diff
group by x.ID, x.Name

karinos57

ASKER

thanks guys, both of you had asked good question. If that is the case then i will always go by the lesser price. thanks for your help.

dwe761

Then my original suggestion works as it is.

dwe761

I noticed that your question was asked in the Access zone. My apologies, I gave you a query in SQL. If you had problems with my original query, try pasting this one into a new Access query. Of course, you'll have to change the name of TableA and TableB to your own table names.

SELECT x.ID, x.Name, Min(x.Price) AS MinOfPrice
FROM 
[
SELECT     b.ID, b.Name, a.Price, MIN(ABS(b.Price - a.Price)) AS diff
FROM         TableA AS a INNER JOIN
 TableB AS b ON a.ID = b.ID
GROUP BY b.ID, b.Name, a.Price
]. AS x 
INNER JOIN
[SELECT     b.ID, b.Name, MIN(ABS(b.Price - a.Price)) AS diff
FROM         TableA AS a INNER JOIN
 TableB AS b ON a.ID = b.ID
GROUP BY b.ID, b.Name
]. AS y 
ON (x.diff = y.diff) AND (x.Name = y.Name) AND (x.ID = y.ID)
GROUP BY x.ID, x.Name;

Open in new window

Patrick Matthews

Here is what I was working on before getting distracted by a call. Seems to work, and in case of a tie will return the lower price.

SELECT a1.ID, a1.NAME, Min(a1.PRICE) AS Price
FROM (TableA a1 INNER JOIN 
    TableB b1 ON a1.ID = b1.ID) INNER JOIN 
    (SELECT a2.ID, Min(Abs([a2].[Price] - [b2].[Price])) AS MinDiff
    FROM TableA AS a2 INNER JOIN 
        TableB AS b2 ON a2.ID = b2.ID
    GROUP BY a2.ID) AS q ON b1.ID = q.ID
WHERE Abs(a1.Price - b1.Price) = q.MinDiff
GROUP BY a1.ID, a1.NAME

Open in new window

karinos57

ASKER

thanks guys. both of you have provided the correct solution but i am having a little problem when i try to change the field names. I am getting an error in both queries. Pls. see attached. Also, is there a way to include the Tier Desc in the output? thanks
Test.zip

dwe761

Sorry, I don't have as new of a version of Access so could not open your file. Could you just paste your query (in SQL form) into the post? We can probably figure it out from that.

karinos57

ASKER

here it is. It says "enter prameter value" for x.last price

SELECT x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC], Min(x.[Last Price]) AS MinOfPrice

FROM (SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff

FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]

GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG]
)  AS x INNER JOIN (SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff

FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]
GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC]
)  AS y ON (x.diff = y.diff) AND (x.[Formatted NDC] = y.[Formatted NDC]) AND (x.[LINE NUMBER] = y.[LINE NUMBER])
GROUP BY x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC];

Open in new window

dwe761

x is the name given for the first query. So if you reference a field from x ([Last Price] it has to be in the query output. So try adding that field as I've done and see if that fixes your problem.

SELECT x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC], Min(x.[Last Price]) AS MinOfPrice

FROM (
SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG], a.[Last Price], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff

FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]

GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG]
)  AS x 

INNER JOIN (

SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff
FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]
GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC]
)  AS y 

ON (x.diff = y.diff) AND (x.[Formatted NDC] = y.[Formatted NDC]) AND (x.[LINE NUMBER] = y.[LINE NUMBER])
GROUP BY x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC];

Open in new window

dwe761

Oops. It must be in the Group By as well.

SELECT x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC], Min(x.[Last Price]) AS MinOfPrice

FROM (
SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG], a.[Last Price], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff

FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]

GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG], a.[Last Price]
)  AS x 

INNER JOIN (

SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff
FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]
GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC]
)  AS y 

ON (x.diff = y.diff) AND (x.[Formatted NDC] = y.[Formatted NDC]) AND (x.[LINE NUMBER] = y.[LINE NUMBER])
GROUP BY x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC];

Open in new window

karinos57

ASKER

i am getting this one now: "enter prameter value" for a.last price

dwe761

My bad. Should be b.[Last Price]

SELECT x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC], Min(x.[Last Price]) AS MinOfPrice

FROM (
SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG], b.[Last Price], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff

FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]

GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG], b.[Last Price]
)  AS x 

INNER JOIN (

SELECT     b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC], MIN(ABS(b.[Last Price] - a.[INCENTIVE PRICE PKG])) AS diff
FROM         Final_Combined_Table AS a INNER JOIN
 Member_Data AS b ON a.[LINE NUMBER] = b.[LINE NUMBER]
GROUP BY b.[LINE NUMBER], b.[Formatted NDC]
)  AS y 

ON (x.diff = y.diff) AND (x.[Formatted NDC] = y.[Formatted NDC]) AND (x.[LINE NUMBER] = y.[LINE NUMBER])
GROUP BY x.[LINE NUMBER], x.[Formatted NDC];

Open in new window

karinos57

ASKER

dwe761,
thanks man, the query is wokring now but the result are wrong. it is producing all the price in the member_data table. it is not showing the closest number. The member_data should be like Table B in my previous post.
Final Combined table
Line Number      Formatted NDC      INCENTIVE PRICE PKG      Tier Desc
1      00944293201      $0.69      tier1
2      15584010102      $200.00      tier4
3      00049399063      $484.42      tier1
4      00004035234      $524.00      tier3
5      61958070105      $365.00      tier5
6      59148001016      $542.00      tier8
7      00002442037      $800.28      tier2
7      00002442037      $775.01      tier1
7      00002442037      $825.55      tier9
8      00002441538      $581.26      tier8
8      00002441538      $600.21      tier10
8      00002441538      $619.16      tier5
9      00004035009      $254.00      tier2
10      00004035010      $58.00      tier9

memeber data table
Line Number      Last Price      Formatted NDC
1      $825.00      00944293201
2      $1,384.00      15584010102
3      $394.00      00049399063
4      $1,592.00      00004035234
5      $887.00      61958070105
6      $545.00      59148001016
7      $729.00      00002442037
8      $542.00      00002441538
9      $398.00      00004035009
10      $358.00      00004035010

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

dwe761

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karinos57

ASKER

works like a charm. thanks

karinos57

ASKER

thanks

karinos57

ASKER

dwe761,
this last query works fine except it does not solve this issue that you raised before. See below. when i run the query it shows both values from Table A as suppose to show only the lesser price. I think your initial query worked fine and i think something went wrong when we changed the field names. thanks again for your help.
TABLE A
ID NAME PRICE
3 LKI 300
3 LKI 100

TABLE B
ID NAME PRICE
3 LKI 200

dwe761

Are you sure you're using my last query sent? I created your tables with your data. And I added two rows to Final_Combined_Table
Line Number      Formatted NDC      INCENTIVE PRICE PKG      Tier Desc
1      00944293201      $0.69      tier1
2      15584010102      $200.00      tier4
3      00049399063      $484.42      tier1
4      00004035234      $524.00      tier3
5      61958070105      $365.00      tier5
6      59148001016      $542.00      tier8
7      00002442037      $775.01      tier1
7      00002442037      $800.28      tier2
7      00002442037      $825.55      tier9
8      00002441538      $581.26      tier8
8      00002441538      $600.21      tier10
8      00002441538      $619.16      tier5
9      00004035009      $254.00      tier2
10      00004035010      $58.00      tier9
11      11111111111      $100.00      tier99
11      11111111111      $300.00      tier99

and one row to Member_Data
Line Number      Last Price      Formatted NDC
1      $825.00      00944293201
2      $1,384.00      15584010102
3      $394.00      00049399063
4      $1,592.00      00004035234
5      $887.00      61958070105
6      $545.00      59148001016
7      $729.00      00002442037
8      $542.00      00002441538
9      $398.00      00004035009
10      $358.00      00004035010
11      $200.00      11111111111

These are my results when I ran my last query:

LINE NUMBER      Formatted NDC      MinOfPrice
1      00944293201      $0.69
2      15584010102      $200.00
3      00049399063      $484.42
4      00004035234      $524.00
5      61958070105      $365.00
6      59148001016      $542.00
7      00002442037      $775.01
8      00002441538      $581.26
9      00004035009      $254.00
10      00004035010      $58.00
11      11111111111      $100.00

Isn't this correct?

karinos57

ASKER

i think what is happening is that i added the tiier desc in there and the tier desc are different for the same line number so when group them then it shows both prices. thanks