DAX in Power BI and it's Functions

DAX is an acronym for Data Analysis Expressions. DAX in Power BI is a syntax language that uses formulas and expressions to manipulate data and calculations. These expressions improve the designer's experience and increase the efficiency of creating reports. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market size of Global Business Intelligence is expected to grow from £24.20 billion in 2023 to £44.65 billion by 2030.   

DAX is an upgraded Microsoft Excel version with sophisticated data management and manipulation features. Microsoft created it to use with its data modelling and business intelligence tools, such as PowerPivot. Microsoft's Power BI is a powerful analytics tool that uses the DAX programming language to perform several features and activities. 

Table of Contents 

1) What is DAX in Power BI? 

2) Why learn DAX in Power BI? 

3) Prerequisites for implementing DAX 

4) DAX Formula: Syntax 

5) DAX Function and its Types 

6) Conclusion 

What is DAX in Power BI? 

A user can design measurements, dimensions, and custom tables using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), a collection of formulas, functions, operators, and constants. They tackle data analysis issues by returning one or more values and establishing new relationships between various data variables. Because it enables Data Analysts to carry out complex computations and find a hidden pattern in an unstructured dataset, DAX language is particularly helpful.   

In the Power BI DAX function, there are fundamentally two types of data: firstly, a numeric data type that consists of decimals, currency, integers, etc., and secondly, a non-numeric data type that consists of binary objects, strings, etc. A function or chain of functions consisting of conditional statements, value references, formulas, loops, etc., always makes up an expression's code. Formulating them is crucial since the expressions' inner-to-outer functions are assessed. 
 

Why learn DAX in Power BI? 

You can develop appropriate reports and post them online if you only have the fundamental knowledge of the Power BI interface. However, the advantage of going further by learning DAX functions in Power BI is that it improvises the user experience by accomplishing certain functionalities like data importing, data manipulation, and data visualisation. To perform calculations and dimensional analysis to build refined and intuitive reports, it is necessary to know about DAX, its commands, and measures that can be utilised under the syntaxes of DAX.   

Prerequisites for implementing DAX

The process of understanding formulae and calculation in DAX requires you to be aware of statistics, probability, and concepts of measurements, along with familiarity with Power BI Desktop. It is interesting to know that the implementation of DAX expressions is equivalent to the procedure of creating formulas in Microsoft Excel. Although you may not have any previous experience in Excel, you can still work on DAX. However, having some knowledge of Excel spreadsheets would be advantageous if you want to work with DAX. 

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DAX Formula: Syntax

The first and most crucial step in learning any language is that you understand the syntax. Learning the syntax of the expressions is vital because you need to build new ones that meet the requirements. Learning the language also becomes easier when you divide it into definitive elements and comprehend them. And for this reason, we know a language's syntax. 

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DAX Function and its Types
 

In Power BI, the evaluation of arguments in a function that needs to be executed in a specific order is done with the help of preset formulae. These formulae are termed DAX Functions that perform specific actions on one or more arguments of a DAX formula. Such arguments can be constants, numbers, texts, logical values like True or False, or any other formula or function. The salient points of DAX functions are listed below: 

a) DAX functions can be used on individual values by creating filters inside a DAX formula. However, without any filters, these functions can be applied on separate rows based on the contextual details of each row. The fact is that DAX functions in Power BI work in such a way that they always refer to an entire field, column, or table instead of referring to individual values.      

b) To compute time and date ranges, DAX uses the time intelligence function. In Power BI, these functions may return the complete table at times that the user cannot see. However, these tables can be utilised as input for other DAX functions.

Conclusion 

After reading this blog, you will know what DAX in Power BI is. Next, you will also appreciate the importance of learning DAX and know its prerequisites. You can create any logical expression or formula by understanding the DAX functions discussed above. DAX is one of the expressions syntaxes used most frequently today and has a wide range of applications. The goal of learning DAX in Power BI is that the designer can develop complicated metrics and enhance the visualisations. 

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