On 6 Jan 2007 12:55:06 -0800, "Joseph N." wrote:

This seems so impossible that I need to post it here with a request for
someone please to tell me why I'm wrong....

Excel 2003 can determine the number of days between two dates based on
a year of twelve months each having thirty days. And Excel 2003 can
determine the number of workdays between two dates. But, even with all
Microsoft optional analysis "tool-paks" installed, it appears that
Excel 2003 cannot calculate the number of days--not limited to work
days--between two dates based on an actual year, i.e., the number of
days in the actually involved months and year(s).

What I'm looking for is the functionality of Lotus 1-2-3's DAYS
function with a base of 1 (there are several optional bases for 1-2-3's
@DAYS, depending on the calendar assumptions you want to operate, and
"1" is actual number of days in the month/actual number of days in the
year).

Am I missing something??

To count the number of days between two dates based on an actual year:

=Date2 - Date1

Format as General.

Or with your dates in A1 and A2:

=A2-A1

Excel stores dates as the number of days since 1/1/1900 so to determine the
difference between two dates it is merely a matter of subtracting one from the
other.

The Lotus 1-2-3 error of designating 1900 as a leap year was replicated in
Excel "for compatibility". So the formula will not give accurate results for
that time frame (early 1900). Otherwise, it works fine.


--ron