"tf" wrote in message
...
I have a column of decimal values in an Excel 2003. I have converted the
values to fractions using the "format cell" function and would like to
extract the numerator values from the fractions. I thought I could do
this
by converting text to columns with the "/" as a delimiter, such that the
numerator and denominator values would be returned in separate columns.
The
problem is that even though my values show as a fraction, they are still
read
as decimals by Excel and the text to columns won't work. I've tried using
the "paste special" function to replace the decimals with the fraction
values, but that did not work either.

Any ideas on how to get Excel to read the values as fractions so that I
can
use the text to columns function; or another method that will allow me to
extract the numerator values? (I don't have a common denominator, so I
can't
use the dollar functions)

Thanks!

Why are you trying to do this? What will you do with the numerator? What do
you want to achieve? I ask because formatting a cell as "fraction" (of some
specified kind) just displays an approximation to the value in the cell that
will fit with the specified format. The error is variable. The "fraction"
format is intended just for display, not for subsequent calculation. It's
difficult to see what use the numerator of such an approximate fraction
could possibly be, which leads me to question whether or not you understand
the "fraction" format and its (severe) limitations.