oops.

I think that one of the first things people learn is how to add two cells:

=sum(a1+a2)

And if =sum() works with addition, it's got to work with other operators. It's
the universal function for math.



wrote:

"JLatham" wrote:
I agree with CLR - the really important thing is that they understand
what they've done

You and CLR both misunderstand my original question. I am not
criticizing people for using SUM() in this "unorthodox" manner.
I am asking: whatever possessed anyone, much less __a_lot__
of people, to misuse SUM() in this manner? Why SUM()? Why
not MAX() or MIN(), for example?

They "must" be getting this idea from somewhere. Where!?

This is a "Genesis" question. Not "what is the meaning of life?",
but "where did life come from, in the first place?".

So far as I can tell, there is no way that anyone learning Excel
for the first time would, on their own, stumble upon SUM() as
the "universal" function for all arithmetic. On the contrary, I can
imagine people writing expressions like "A1+A2+A3+...+A26"
long before some kind soul tells them they can do SUM(A1:A26).

And if you suggest that once they learn of SUM() for that purpose,
it is "logical" that they would apply it to all expression, I would
have to disagree strongly. If we are assuming extremely little
(apparently almost no) understanding of formula design in Excel,
it is a huge leap from SUM(A1:A26) to SUM(A1-B1) (an oxymoron),
much less SUM((A1-B1)/B1), especially for anyone with so little
understanding of the language that they cannot imagine that
=(A1-B1)/B1 would do the same job.

So on the contrary, I suspect that someone has taught people
that SUM() is the "best" way to write an expression for __some__
reason.

I wish someone would tell me that reason. Honestly, I cannot
imagine one. And I am usually very good at ferreting out the
origin of misunderstandings of all kinds, especially linguistic and
cultural. This one has me stumped.

--

Dave Peterson