Bob -

I started using Excel in 1987. It was version 2, I think. Windows was not
yet an OS, or at least the PC didn't boot into Windows. You started DOS,
then started Windows, THEN you could run Excel. Excel was the only
application I owned that ran on Windows.

At that time Excel didn't have SUMPRODUCT. However, working in the
investment banking field, and calculating weighted averages of all kinds, I
was thrilled to be able to create array formulas that worked the way
SUMPRODUCT does.

A few years later (maybe Excel 5?) introduced SUMPRODUCT. I still use the
array form of SUM() out of old habit more than I use SUMPRODUCT

Old and not very valuable information, but that's my recollection.
Duke

"Bob Phillips" wrote:

Maybe it wasn't used in that way, but I would be interested to hear when
Excel didn't have SUMPRODUCT .

--

HTH

Bob Phillips

(replace xxxx in the email address with gmail if mailing direct)

"Duke Carey" wrote in message
...
Long ago, in a galaxy far away, Excel didn't have a SUMPRODUCT() function,
and the array version of SUM() was the vehicle by which you summed the
products of arrays.

The array SUM has been stable for as long as I've used it, going on 18 or
19
years.



"MDW" wrote:

I've inhereted a workbook where the previous owner used a complex
{=SUM()}
function to approximate a SUMPRODUCT(). It currently is working fine,
but I
wonder if there are any advantages to changing the functions to be
actual
SUMPRODUCT. Does using SUM in this way take up more resources/become
unstable, etc?

I'm chasing down some gremlins in my Excel workbooks and this one popped
out
at me.

For reference, the current function looks something like this:


{=SUM(($A4='C:\[external-file.xls]sheet1'!$A$9:$A$15000)*(AX$1='C:\[external
-file.xls]sheet1'!$C$9:$C$15000)*'C:\[external-file.xls]sheet1'!$F$9:$F$1500
0))}
--
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