To convert from TEXT to a date, use the double unary minus
=--TEXT(A1,"01\/01\/0000") or use =DATEVALUE(TEXT(A1,"01\/01\/0000"))
In either case, format the cell as date.
--
David Biddulph

"silly_jem" wrote in message
...
I would like to convert a number to a the first day of a year, i.e., 1997
to
01/01/1997. How do I do this? I know how to create text that LOOKS like
this [=TEXT(a1,"01\/01\/0000")], but it seems like this is a text format
and
not a date format, so I can't use this "date" to subtract from another
date
(to calculate the time interval between two dates).

Can you help me?