pointed bracket or singular function

[Han]

(11-26-2014 10:32 AM)resolved Wrote:  thanks Han and Nigel, both worked, much better than my solution of creating five different equations in Solver to evaluate

Take care as they are not equivalent. For example, MAX((x-2)^2,0) is always the same as just (x-2)^2, whereas MAX((x-2)^3,0) is the same as
\[ f(x) = \begin{cases} (x-2)^3, & x\ge 3\\ 0, & x<3 \end{cases} \]

I'm not quite sure which it is you want, though your original post says that that if the expression inside the < > is negative, then entire term is 0. That is not the same thing as using the MAX() function. Thus <x-2>^2 should be 0 for x<2. However, MAX((x-2)^2,0) is positive if x<2.

Edit: I may have misinterpreted the posts. If you indeed meant what you originally wrote, then MAX(x-2,0)^2 (note the square on the outside) would work just fine.