Most likely caused by having the cell(s) pre-formatted as Text.

With cell selected, hit F2 then ENTER.

If you have a great whack of these, select them and

EditReplace

What: =
With: =

Replace all.

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 20:09:03 -0800, Purple Angel <Purple
wrote:

sometimes when entering a formula the formula is displayed instead of the
result. Why? It only occurs in some cells and not all and the formula options
check box set in "tools/options/view/windows option" is not ticked.
Can anybody suggest why?