From the course: Excel Business Intelligence: Power Pivot, DAX and Data Modeling

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Recap: Calculated columns versus measures

Recap: Calculated columns versus measures - Microsoft Excel Tutorial

From the course: Excel Business Intelligence: Power Pivot, DAX and Data Modeling

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Recap: Calculated columns versus measures

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- So at this point we've talked about how Dax can be used in two different places, calculated columns and measures, both implicit and explicit. At this point, I want to take a big step back and compare the two. The reason it's worth focusing on this is that you'll find many situations where you could use either option. So it's important to understand the similarities and differences so that you know what your best choice might be. Now, starting with calculated columns, these are evaluated in the context of each row of the table to which they belong. In other words, they have row context. Second, they actually append static values or attributes to each row in the table and stores them with the model. So that increases the file size. Third, they're only recalculated on data source refresh, or when you make changes to component columns, meaning columns that are actually included in the calculation that you're making.…

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