I am trying to enter 17 digit numbers in an excel spreadsheet, but the sheet
automatically changes the last digit to a zero.

Either pre-format the cell(s) as Text or enter your numbers with a leading
apostrophe (it won't show up in the cell).

Rick


"creel28270" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:AFDE9DBC-5896-4022-84B7-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am trying to enter 17 digit numbers in an excel spreadsheet, but the
>sheet
> automatically changes the last digit to a zero.

Sounds like it's rounding off. What version of Excel and what cell
format do you have chosen? (Number? Integer? Other?)

--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com



"creel28270" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:AFDE9DBC-5896-4022-84B7-(E-Mail Removed):

> I am trying to enter 17 digit numbers in an excel spreadsheet, but the sheet
> automatically changes the last digit to a zero.

Ben

There's 15 digit precision in Excel. Which I believe has something to do
with 32 bits resolution.

Best wishes Harald

"Ben M. Schorr - MVP (OneNote)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sounds like it's rounding off. What version of Excel and what cell format
> do you have chosen? (Number? Integer? Other?)
>
> --
> -Ben-
> Ben M. Schorr, MVP
> Roland Schorr & Tower
> http://www.rolandschorr.com
> http://www.officeforlawyers.com
>
>
>
> "creel28270" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:AFDE9DBC-5896-4022-84B7-(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> I am trying to enter 17 digit numbers in an excel spreadsheet, but the
>> sheet
>> automatically changes the last digit to a zero.
>

IEEE double precision (used by Excel) uses 64 bits to represent floating
point numbers. 52 bits (effectively 53 bits for numbers > 1E-307 in
magnitude) go to repesenting the value (the rest go to the exponent and
sign). This is sufficient to approximate 15 decimal digit numbers, but
requires 17 decimal digits to uniquely identify the binary represention.
Excel's documented 15 decimal digit limitation is a design decision to avoid
explaining why some 17 decimal digit numbers would otherwise change value
immediately on input. Some other IEEE compliant packages will allow you to
see and directly manipulate the full 17 decimal digits.

Jerry

"Harald Staff" wrote:

> Ben
>
> There's 15 digit precision in Excel. Which I believe has something to do
> with 32 bits resolution.
>
> Best wishes Harald
>
> "Ben M. Schorr - MVP (OneNote)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Sounds like it's rounding off. What version of Excel and what cell format
> > do you have chosen? (Number? Integer? Other?)
> >
> > --
> > -Ben-
> > Ben M. Schorr, MVP
> > Roland Schorr & Tower
> > http://www.rolandschorr.com
> > http://www.officeforlawyers.com
> >
> >
> >
> > "creel28270" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:AFDE9DBC-5896-4022-84B7-(E-Mail Removed):
> >
> >> I am trying to enter 17 digit numbers in an excel spreadsheet, but the
> >> sheet
> >> automatically changes the last digit to a zero.
> >
>
>

Ah. Good to know.

--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP
Roland Schorr & Tower
http://www.rolandschorr.com
http://www.officeforlawyers.com



"Harald Staff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:#(E-Mail Removed):

> Ben
>
> There's 15 digit precision in Excel. Which I believe has something to do
> with 32 bits resolution.
>
> Best wishes Harald
>
> "Ben M. Schorr - MVP (OneNote)" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > Sounds like it's rounding off. What version of Excel and what cell format
> > do you have chosen? (Number? Integer? Other?)
> >
> > --
> > -Ben-
> > Ben M. Schorr, MVP
> > Roland Schorr & Tower
> > http://www.rolandschorr.com
> > http://www.officeforlawyers.com
> >
> >
> >
> > "creel28270" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:AFDE9DBC-5896-4022-84B7-(E-Mail Removed):
> >
>
> >> I am trying to enter 17 digit numbers in an excel spreadsheet, but the
> >> sheet
> >> automatically changes the last digit to a zero.
>
> >

Ah. Thank you Jerry.
Best wishes Harald

"Jerry W. Lewis" <post_a_reply@no_e-mail.com> wrote in message
news:9BC94ED3-4C8A-42B4-B73A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> IEEE double precision (used by Excel) uses 64 bits to represent floating
> point numbers. 52 bits (effectively 53 bits for numbers > 1E-307 in
> magnitude) go to repesenting the value (the rest go to the exponent and
> sign). This is sufficient to approximate 15 decimal digit numbers, but
> requires 17 decimal digits to uniquely identify the binary represention.
> Excel's documented 15 decimal digit limitation is a design decision to
> avoid
> explaining why some 17 decimal digit numbers would otherwise change value
> immediately on input. Some other IEEE compliant packages will allow you
> to
> see and directly manipulate the full 17 decimal digits.
>
> Jerry
>
> "Harald Staff" wrote:
>
>> Ben
>>
>> There's 15 digit precision in Excel. Which I believe has something to do
>> with 32 bits resolution.