On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:36:02 -0700, mebsmith
wrote:

I am trying to get the absolute average of a column of positive and negative
numbers, so i am trying to gather the absolute sum of the numbers using the
following:

=SUM(ABS($F3:$F216))

however it returns a number (1) that isn't the correct answer. However when
i hit the function key in the formula bar the correct answer is displayed
under the inputs.

What am I doing wrong? Please help/

The formula is an array formula. So you must hold down <ctrl<shift when you
hit <enter to enter the formula. If you do this correctly, Excel will place
braces {...} around the formula.
--ron