Thanks, BillB. That answer works for me (the process only works with
division - not other math). Now I can explain it to my inquisitive employee.
JD


"BillB" wrote:

if cell is formatted as "number", it will convert fractions consisting of
whole number numerator and denominator to decimal.

"JD" wrote:

I have a new young employee who has been entering simple formulas by just
entering the function without any leading operand (e.g., 5/12 instead of
=5/12) and it shows the resulting calculation. Apparently this has been
working fine until he wanted to enter a decimal number (e.g., 5.2/12) and the
cell just shows the formula as if it were text. I can't find any reason for
the difference that I can explain to him (other than you are supposed to use
the = sign as the leading entry for a formula.) Does anyone have any
explanation?