Excel dates count from 1 Jan 1900, hence your 39274 (or they count from 1904
if the 1904 date system is selected, which it is by default on a Mac).
--
David Biddulph

"Lauren Giles" wrote in message
...
This is just a curiosity question, really.

I make a budget spreadsheet, and dear old 7-11 is on there every once in a
while. If I forget to make the cell a text/general cell first, it
automatically changes the entry 7-11 to 11-Jul. I understand why it does
that
well enough. My question is, why, when I select the same cell again and
switch it to text/general, does it display 39274? Is that some sort of
magic
number?

For the record, I've tried the same with other "dates," and different
numbers come up. Maybe it's a random number that is related to the date?
Does
anyone know for sure?