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#1
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calculation unexpected
Hi,
I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? |
#2
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calculation unexpected
Select the cell that has the date in and change the format to number and all
will be revealed. Dates in Excel are stored as numbers and formatted to appear as dates to you and I. Mike "zxcv" wrote: Hi, I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? |
#3
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calculation unexpected
Looking slightly deeper
31 Mar 1993 = 34059 *$600 = $20,435,400 Mike "zxcv" wrote: Hi, I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
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calculation unexpected
OK, but what is the relationship between the date Mar 31 1993 and the number
34,059? "Mike H" wrote: Select the cell that has the date in and change the format to number and all will be revealed. Dates in Excel are stored as numbers and formatted to appear as dates to you and I. Mike "zxcv" wrote: Hi, I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
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calculation unexpected
An excellent explanation here
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datetime.htm "zxcv" wrote: OK, but what is the relationship between the date Mar 31 1993 and the number 34,059? "Mike H" wrote: Select the cell that has the date in and change the format to number and all will be revealed. Dates in Excel are stored as numbers and formatted to appear as dates to you and I. Mike "zxcv" wrote: Hi, I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? |
#6
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calculation unexpected
On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:26:04 -0700, zxcv
wrote: Hi, I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? Excel counts 1/1/1900 as day 1. Mar 31 1993 is day 34059. That is how Excel stores dates. --ron |
#8
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calculation unexpected
Essentially, those numbers are just a counter from a base date.
(Tools|Options|calculation tab|1904 date system is where you'd toggle the setting.) Most windows users don't use the 1904 date system. Most (many or some???) Mac users use 1904 as the base date. So there have been about 34,059 days since Dec 31, 1899. (Just to make life interesting, there is a problem. Excel (and other spreadsheet programs) treat February 29, 1900 as a leap year. It wasn't. This isn't important to me (or most/many/some???) users <vbg.) zxcv wrote: OK, but what is the relationship between the date Mar 31 1993 and the number 34,059? "Mike H" wrote: Select the cell that has the date in and change the format to number and all will be revealed. Dates in Excel are stored as numbers and formatted to appear as dates to you and I. Mike "zxcv" wrote: Hi, I'm getting a calculation result I didn't expect and don't know where it's coming from. I pasted a formula into a new cell and accidentally didn't include the dollar sign to make it an absolute reference. Still, it did a calculation on a dollar amount of $600, and a date of Mar 31 1993, and came out with the result $20,435,400! I can't figure out how Excel is getting this! I did 20,453,400/600, which gave me 34,059. But how does Excel get that number from Mar 31 1993? -- Dave Peterson |
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