Hi Margo,

First advice: Don't do this! Any accidental recalculation will change your quantity, possibly without you even noticing!
Second advice: Look he

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/accumulator.html

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

"Margo" wrote in message ...
| Problem:
|
| Cell A1 is data entry =quantity on hand
| Cell B1 is data entry = quantity sold
| Cell C1 is data entry = quantity received
| Cell D1 is formula = new quantity on hand (A1-B1+C1)
|
| What I want to do is have only one 'quantity on hand' column.
|
| A1 = A1-B1+C1 which is a circular reference, and no matter what sort of
| formula I use, IF, AND, etc., it continues to be circular as long as the
| value in A1 is part of the formula.
|
| No doubt the answer is perfectly simple, and I'm just not asking Help the
| right question. After all, every inventory program must need that basic
| function.
|
|