The formula you show below that you got from JE works just fine in my XL2k.
What version of Excel are you using?, and is it the English language
version?..........sometimes there are variations in some formulas based on
what language it is..........try pasting it into a completely new worksheet
to prove it to yourself that it works......if it doesn't work there, then
there is probably something wrong in Excel.........if it does, then it's
something in that your original file.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3




"ynot" wrote in message
...
Thank you for your patience and continued help!! still can't get it to
work?
obviously I'm in over my head..yet I can cut, paste, type, but I don't
know
why I get a message that there is an error in the formula...

this is the exact formula I've pasted :
=LEFT(A2,FIND("'",A2)-1)+MID(LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-1),FIND("'",A2)+1,255)/12

however I get that damn error message? then I go to INSERT_FUNCTION which
brings up an argument widow with three boxes .... the 1st box Find_text
has
"'",A2)-1)+MID(LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-1),FIND("'" = Invalid
2nd box Within_text has A2 = 33' 0" and the third Start_num = blank =
number
in white scale?

Any suggestions? Again, thank you for your kind and appreciative
knowledge!!!! you are a true scholar!

"JE McGimpsey" wrote:

Sounds like XL interpreted the formula as tabular for some reason.

Select B2, click in the Edit Formula box on the Formula Bar and paste.
Remove any spurious line feeds.


In article ,
"ynot" wrote:


thank you for your prompt response as I should have noted I'm a true
rookie
to excel, as I only had the 2.5 minute training and probaly should
have
bosted to the dummies for excel..... all values in column "A" = X' Y";
if I
try to paste formule to B2.... which it won't allow I see MID(text,
start_num,NUM_CHARS) which the paste place
=LEFT(A2,FIND("'",A2)-1)+MID(LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-1), in A2 and
FIND("'",A2)+1,255)/12 in A3..... did I choke something?