You have the answer but it is possible to split these expressions into two
columns by using the 'text to columns' facility.
Having imported data to col A (formatted as text) - highlight col A - select
text to columns - field type=delimited - next - select 'other' having
deselected all other options - input / in box - tick box 'treat conseq etc' -
text qualifier should be * - data preview pane should default both columns
to general - selecting finish will leave 15 in Col A and place 8 in col B.
Just for future info and to confirm that the / is no bar to this.
Cheers

"colensa" wrote:

I import data onto Excel from a horseracing database.
The odds of the horses are expressed in the form 3/1, 15/8, 9/4 etc etc .
I have to import these as text otherwise they become dates.
They are therefore on the LHS of the cell.
I don't know how to convert these to single numbers (decimals) in order to
make calculations, and following the process 'text to numbers' on Excel does
not seem to achieve any result - possibly because of the /
Help please