First off, It's always bugged me that there is no equal sign on the
number pad of my keyboard, it just seems like it's something that
should be included in that set of keys.

The other day I found that you can use + or - instead of
= to perform simple calculations. For instance if you
wanted to find the solution to 15*30 you could type +15*30 instead of
=15*30. The same is true with -, so if you type -2+4 you get 2.
Also if you type - instead of = for more complex functions, Excel
automatically adds that equal sign and negates the answer.

*This may not seem like a big deal and I'm not sure if anyone else has
ever posted it (I didn't come up with any search results) but since I
stumbled across it a couple days ago I've found it pretty
useful/interesting so I just wanted to pass it along.

Keypads are historically difficult to design. IBM and other computer
industry engineers designed computer keypads. Bell system engineers designed
phone keypads. Both groups had nearly infinite resources to apply to the
task. Both groups maintained some of the finest engineering organizations in
the history of the world.

The best that they could come up with was that the pads on computer
keyboards should go 7,8,9 across the top and telephones 1,2,3 across the top.
While the equal sign would be valuable, we should be thankful that they did
include 0-9

--
Gary's Student


"CEN7272 - ExcelForums.com" wrote:

First off, It's always bugged me that there is no equal sign on the
number pad of my keyboard, it just seems like it's something that
should be included in that set of keys.

The other day I found that you can use + or - instead of
= to perform simple calculations. For instance if you
wanted to find the solution to 15*30 you could type +15*30 instead of
=15*30. The same is true with -, so if you type -2+4 you get 2.
Also if you type - instead of = for more complex functions, Excel
automatically adds that equal sign and negates the answer.

*This may not seem like a big deal and I'm not sure if anyone else has
ever posted it (I didn't come up with any search results) but since I
stumbled across it a couple days ago I've found it pretty
useful/interesting so I just wanted to pass it along.

Good afternoon CEN7272

Alternatively you could go to Tools Options, Transition and check the
Transition formula entry box. then you don't have to put any sign in at
all. Type 15+3 in a cell and the result is shown. This can, in some
cases, show your dates a bit funny (it doesn't happen often), but I
usually keep it switched on.

DominicB


--
dominicb
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dominicb: Thanks, that's a great tip