It's a good formula - we know it is. But the formula will remain on the
screen in the cell after we 'enter' out of it. We apparently can trick the
formula into working (it's a COUNTIF command) by starting with one cell and
slowly expanding the range. But it shouldn't have to be that way. Something
is wrong with either our view or our formatting. What is it?

Thanks in advance,

Mad Dog

Could be the view--if all the other formulas show up as formulas:
tools|options|view|uncheck formulas

Could be the formatting of the cell
format|cell|number tab|General (or something non-Text)

And then select the cell, hit F2 and then enter (to tell excel that you're
reentering the formula).

Mad Dog wrote:

It's a good formula - we know it is. But the formula will remain on the
screen in the cell after we 'enter' out of it. We apparently can trick the
formula into working (it's a COUNTIF command) by starting with one cell and
slowly expanding the range. But it shouldn't have to be that way. Something
is wrong with either our view or our formatting. What is it?

Thanks in advance,

Mad Dog

--

Dave Peterson

Check to see if the cell is formatted as Text. This will treat
anything in the cell as, well, text rather than a number or formula.
Reformat it to General, then re-enter the formula (you can cut the text
from the Formula bar and paste it back in.)