excel shouldnt need a symbol before the first number in an equati
 

Whilst excel accepts a number as positive when first entered, why when adding
further entries in the cell do you have to enter a ' +' symbol before the
first number.

Surely it must be intuitive that this is going to be a formula, and that a +
symbol could then be automatically programmed for.

Supercalc (which I used for many years before even Microsoft appeared ) and
Lotus 123 both had this feature, and this saved quite a lot of time and
frustration

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Actually it is = that must be used.
For example =12+6 gives 18 but 12+6 gives text
I sometimes wish 12+6 would be recognized as a formula but Excel needs the =
to know that a formula is being entered
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove caps from email

"stewart katz" <stewart wrote in message
...
Whilst excel accepts a number as positive when first entered, why when
adding
further entries in the cell do you have to enter a ' +' symbol before the
first number.

Surely it must be intuitive that this is going to be a formula, and that a
+
symbol could then be automatically programmed for.

Supercalc (which I used for many years before even Microsoft appeared )
and
Lotus 123 both had this feature, and this saved quite a lot of time and
frustration

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...et.f unctions

"Bernard Liengme" wrote in message
...
12+6 gives text

That's what the OP is complaining about - in Lotus if you enter "12+6"
(without the quotes), it automatically recognises it as numbers. Why Excel
should recognise numbers as "text" is beyond me.

Good evening Stewart Katz

Why not go to Tools Options, Transistion and check the Transition
Formula Entry box to emulate the 1-2-3 method of entering formulae?

HTH

DominicB


--
dominicb
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