<guess I'm going to go take a Visual Basic course

You could, of course.

But what remains is that circular references and similar concepts should not be used, unless it is the very nature of the problem
description itself, like for some recursive calculation algorithms.
For record-keeping structures, like the one you describe, I strongly advise NOT to use circular references.

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

"Margo" wrote in message ...
| Thank you very much for the response and the link. It's all beyond my
| understanding though at this time ... guess I'm going to go take a Visual
| Basic course.
|
| "Niek Otten" wrote:
|
| 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.
| |
| |
|
|
|