The pattern is that the cells you're entering the formulae in are
formatted as Text, so XL doesn't try to interpret them as formulae.

Format the cells as General before entering a formula.

In article ,
tcarp wrote:

In some cases Excel (2003 SP2) is displaying the formula in a cell, not the
results. The formula (say Concatenate or an IF) is correct and there is no
error being indicated. In one case I entered a simple Concatenate and got
the whole "=Concatenate....." displayed in the cell. I stumbled on a
workaround by entering the formula in the second cell in a column where the
formula did not display and then copying the formula to the first cell in the
column.

On another worksheet its not been so simple. I have a relatively complex
IF(ISNA(INDEX(MATCH) formula that displays fine. If I edit the formula to
pull out a portion (in this case the ISNA part), I get the formula displayed.
I've even tried to reenter the formula from scratch but get the formula
displayed.

I can't figure out a pattern here. The formulas are valid and run from very
simple to somewhat complex so I don't think it has anything to do with the
formulas themselves.

Any ideas?

Tom