That means you have the cells format set to text. So no matter what
you put in the cell it will think it is just supposed to be text.
Change the format of the cells to text. Then to get it to recalculate
the formula do a find and replace on the whole worksheet for = and then
replace it with =.

Does anyone out there know a better way to force calculation (other
than F9) then this find and replace trick? I have heard of a short cut
key something like ctrl + alt + F9 or something.