The =+ sign we see sometime
 

To Anyone interested!!
I see formulas posted as : =+(this,that) and noting that the plus sign being superficial ( not needed). True but
if you use the + sign on the number keypad instead of the = sign on the top of the keyboard to start your formulas, it works fine.
The result is that Excel adds the equal sign without typing it.
To some it could be more convenient.

I would appreciate any comments from the experts,good or bad.

Happy Holidays to Everyone especially those that take the time to help everyone.

Regards
John

The =+ sign we see sometime
 

Happy holidays to you too...

You have made an interesting observation. It works even if you start the
formula with + sign on top of the keyboard (not necessarily on the numeric
keypad)... This is because Excel knows that you are entering a formula when
you start with a + (or -) and adds an = before what you have entered...

I always start with = as I do not save any effort by starting with +

"John" wrote:

To Anyone interested!!
I see formulas posted as : =+(this,that) and noting that the plus sign being superficial ( not needed). True but
if you use the + sign on the number keypad instead of the = sign on the top of the keyboard to start your formulas, it works fine.
The result is that Excel adds the equal sign without typing it.
To some it could be more convenient.

I would appreciate any comments from the experts,good or bad.

Happy Holidays to Everyone especially those that take the time to help everyone.

Regards
John

The =+ sign we see sometime
 

On Dec 11, 8:00 am, "John" wrote:
if you use the + sign on the number keypad instead of the
= sign on the top of the keyboard to start your formulas, it
works fine. The result is that Excel adds the equal sign
without typing it. To some it could be more convenient.
I would appreciate any comments from the experts,good
or bad.

Recognizing "+" at the beginning of a formula is a throw-back to an
earlier industry-leading spreadsheet application (Visicalc and/or
Lotus, I forget which). Excel "converts" such formulas to its format
(formulas begin with "=").

As for good v. bad practice, generally I avoid features that exist
simply for backward compatibility. Manufacturers (esp. MS) have a
habit of obsoleting their support of such ancient features eventually.

However, in this case, Excel does the "right" thing and translates
your use of "+" to "=" (well, to "=+"; sigh) on data entry. So
ostensibly, there is no harm. I think the "harm" is that someday you
might type "+formula" in some other context and expect people (and
applications) to understand that as "=formula". Eventually that
understanding will evaporate, causing confusion at a minimum and input
errors at worse.

My suggestion: join the 21st century and use "=". The extra effort
will help you burn calories :-).


----- original posting -----

On Dec 11, 8:00*am, "John" wrote:
To Anyone interested!!
I see formulas posted as : =+(this,that) and noting that the plus sign being superficial ( not needed). True but
if you use the + sign on the number keypad instead of the = sign on the top of the keyboard to start your formulas, it works fine.
The result is that Excel adds the equal sign without typing it.
To some it could be more convenient.

I would appreciate any comments from the experts,good or bad.

* * * * * *Happy Holidays to Everyone especially those that take the time to * * * * * * help everyone.

* * * * * * Regards
* * * * * * John

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