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How to perform Calculations on many records

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    How to perform Calculations on many records

    in a loan and savings application, how do i compute the interest on a million records, will i use looping? how is this done in xbasic wherein
    the program will compute the interest based on individual records, e.g the interest is computed based on average daily savings,every member has different basis for computation so the program must
    compute on a per record basis, how long will alpha five compute millions of records?how is this done as a transaction, all or nothing will be computed?
    Thank you!

    #2
    Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

    Roman,

    Tell us the steps you'd want Alpha to do in order to compute the interest on a single account.

    It's critical to understand this before beginning a discussion of how one might tackle multiple accounts. Clear thinking is key. For example, you want to compute interest on "Records", but "Records" never ever earn interest. Records are simply rows in a table.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

      Thanks for the reply Tom, here is the scenario, Interests are computed every quarter of the a current year, e.g. all beginning balances are forwarded last january 1, 2011, Mr. Smith has $10,500 beg . bal, he deposited 1,000 last January 30 - , another amount of $ 2000 last feb. 5, the formula is computed based on AVERAGE DAILY BALANCE, the first interest should be computed from January 1 to 30, another computation should be computed from january 30 to feb 5 and if there are no transactions until March 31, another interest will now then be computed from Feb 5 to march 31,Whatever is the formula of interest computation, How do we compute in xbasic for the number of days between transactions and compute the Interest, then sum up all the interest at the end of the quarter plus the total amount deposited/withdrawn. A button will be clicked any day with in a quarter and interest will be computed for inquiry purposes, and for sure At the end of the quarter for final report.So given that situation, the main problem that is bugging me is how to identify number of days between transaction and compute for the interest, after that, the program will now move to another record and the process is repeated...................for lets say a million records, how long will alpha five computes this kind of batch computation?
      Last edited by doorscomputers; 11-25-2011, 11:10 PM.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

        Thanks, Roman, that begins to fill in a few more of the pieces. Are you looking for help in doing this specific calculation ? If so, you need to tell us how interest is to be computed. For example, is the interest rate fixed? How frequently does interest accrue?

        Take a look at the date / time functions in Alpha Five. If you subtract one date from another you get the number of days in between. For example:

        Code:
        beg_date = {01/01/2011}
        end_date = {01/31/2011}
        ?end_date - beg_date
        = 30
        I don't know how long it would take Alpha Five to do this. Are you trying to determine whether Alpha Five is a good candidate to run this kind of calculation for a financial institution?

        Comment


          #5
          Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

          Roman, if you have a copy of Excel, suggest you look at Help/Compound Interest. There are many calculations to choose from.
          Else Google for more calcs.
          Another way you might want to consider is to have the AVERAGE DAILY BALANCE really calculated daily, and the interest also calculated daily so that changes in daily rates can be accommodated. It might also mean that you don't have to calculate on the spot.
          In my experience, based on 900k big records doing a complex Join, on an Toshiba XP laptop, it took about 7 minutes, so certainly not that long.
          See our Hybrid Option here;
          https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


          Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
          You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

            Roman
            I think the important issue is being able to validate (read demonstrate) that your calculation is factual and based on what facts...
            Like for ex, is interest calculated on daily balance?, capitalized daily or not?, in arrears - or at one date in the month cap monthly etc
            which are all stated contractually.
            Historically computers have never been as fast as now, time was never an issue - banks run the calcs overnight

            Comment


              #7
              Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

              Thank you Tom for this
              beg_date = {01/01/2011}
              end_date = {01/31/2011}
              ?end_date - beg_date
              = 30
              How do i do this in a record , interest is computed after every transaction but it is done at the end of the quarter, it doesnt matter what the formula for interest computation, to make it simple, its so easy if every client has one transaction , ill just get the number of days between two dates, what if a depositor deposits and withdrawn many times?

              Yap i'm trying to know the capability of alpha five when it comes to simple and complex calculations with millions of records.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

                I have done it this way for mortgage recalculations used for judicial appeals on foreclosure to ensure that while the bank obtains maximum legal interest accrual it has not overcharged, which is fair for investment interest, but banks won't necessarily like.
                This method has proved successful in actual cases, in that any part (segment) of it can be validated using a simple calculator (and some time)
                Main Loop - for one account holder's records
                - Second loop - for each day from selected start to finish
                - - If daily cap, calculate and capitalize interest
                - - Third loop - stop at date of ANY financial transaction (a payment, interest capitalization, credit etc)
                - - - If daily cap, insert the interest and cap accrued to date this my scenario
                - - - else in yours probably,
                - - - - calculate the interest for the days as Tom suggested - fairly common,
                - - - - and capitalize or not depending on whether interest was changed

                No loopholes - to excuse the pun

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

                  Something like that Ray, how is this done in Alpha Five? Thanks

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

                    Emily, you may find the programming puzzles forum useful. Try your hand at solving the problems, then compare your code (script) with others that have been posted there.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

                      Quite correct as Tom says, you need to know loops and record manipulation.
                      My answer wasn't the simple one - just a response to Roman's question about Xbasic and Loops -
                      will i use looping? how is this done in xbasic
                      I'm presuming he asked 'cos he knows how.

                      You should start off doing batch record manipulation using the built in Operations of Alpha without using Xbasic code except a tiny bit for the arithmetic calculations perhaps.
                      Last edited by Ray in Capetown; 11-28-2011, 05:57 AM.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

                        How do we loop in each record for thousands of records in alpha five for computations?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: How to perform Calculations on many records

                          Emily,

                          Have you looked at the first few puzzles? If not, why not?

                          -- tom

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