# Adding total to goal is not working as expected (redefines slope) **URL:** \ **Category:** Bugabee\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 9:26am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161 "2020-08-22T09:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beeminder\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@beeminder\_user](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/beeminder_user)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 9:26am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/1 "2020-08-22T09:26:24Z")
1. have a created archived goal with set slope (because I know how much I should target for work) 2. I restarted it (in my case because I signed contract extension for this specific work) 3. I have a desire to set capped amount (it is a hour-based contract and I prefer to not be Beeminded into working for free) 4. So I go into settings (“Change goal date and goal total”) and change goal total At this point my goal total is changed (as expected), and my slope changes (what I consider as a bug) ---
**Author:** ![shanaqui](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/shanaqui/32/3513_2.png) [@shanaqui](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/shanaqui)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/2 "2020-08-22T10:15:18Z")
Ah, interesting, thanks for sharing your question! So, whatever slope the graph has calculated, it’s based on the two factors you set when changing goal date and goal total. If you set the end date and the end total, the third factor of rate has to be auto-calculated… it can’t physically be anything else! That’s because the goal total you set isn’t a _cap_, it’s a target. It’d be interesting to know whether there’s anything weird/inconsistent that made you think you were setting a cap rather than a desired target, if you can remember! ---
**Author:** ![beeminder\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@beeminder\_user](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/beeminder_user)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 11:07am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/3 "2020-08-22T11:07:33Z")
In this case I am pretty sure that I never set end date (goal was created long time ago, via API, so maybe I am not remembering it). I had set rate, without actually set end date as it was an open ended goal (maybe due to technical detail some fake end date was set - there are some traces of that in statistics panel) and I added goal total, expecting that end date will recalculate. Instead of that slope got recalculated. > [@shanaqui](#): > > That’s because the goal total you set isn’t a _cap_ , it’s a target. It’d be interesting to know whether there’s anything weird/inconsistent that made you think you were setting a cap rather than a desired target, I am not sure what would be difference between cap and target in that context (not a native speaker, it seems to have an equivalent meaning in this context). ---
**Author:** ![shanaqui](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/shanaqui/32/3513_2.png) [@shanaqui](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/shanaqui)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 11:13am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/4 "2020-08-22T11:13:01Z")
> [@beeminder\_user](#): > > I had set rate, without actually set end date as it was an open ended goal (maybe due to technical detail some fake end date was set - there are some traces of that in statistics panel) and I added goal total, expecting that end date will recalculate. It’ll depend on which two fields were white and which one was greyed out. If we re-calculated the rate when it was active/white, then that sounds like a bug! Can you give me a link to the goal? > [@beeminder\_user](#): > > I am not sure what would be difference between cap and target in that context (not a native speaker, it seems to have an equivalent meaning in this context). A “cap” is an amount you don’t want to exceed, but it may not be the number you want to reach. A target is the number you actually want to reach, and Beeminder assumes you want to hit that number exactly (rather than just not exceed it). ---
**Author:** ![beeminder\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@beeminder\_user](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/beeminder_user)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 8:12am UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/5 "2020-08-26T08:12:51Z")
> [@shanaqui](#): > > It’ll depend on which two fields were white and which one was greyed out. If we re-calculate d the rate when it was active/white, then that sounds like a bug! Can you give me a link to the goal? I think that I know what I happened: if goal had set goal rate and enter “goal total” field then “goal rate” becomes gray and “goal total” and “goal date” becomes active. Maybe it is more resistant to things like 0 goal rate, but at least for me in this specific case it was surprising. BTW, can you delete/archive [beeminder](https://www.beeminder.com/mateusz_konieczny/backup_goal_37) [beeminder](https://www.beeminder.com/mateusz_konieczny/backup_goal_36) so that this test goals will not litter my goal list for one week? ---
**Author:** ![shanaqui](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/shanaqui/32/3513_2.png) [@shanaqui](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/shanaqui)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/6 "2020-08-26T15:56:00Z")
Can you send that request to [support@beeminder.com](mailto:support@beeminder.com)? 🙂 Best to keep that sort of thing all in one place, probably! (And then people don’t get in the habit of requesting it on the forum and trusting to my non-existant omniscience. 😉) ---
**Author:** ![beeminder\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@beeminder\_user](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/beeminder_user)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/adding-total-to-goal-is-not-working-as-expected-redefines-slope/7161/7 "2020-08-26T20:32:18Z")
Done!