scientific notation

[aaron.kempf]

so I'm importing excel data into access.. the problems fields are
mostly text.. but some large integers...
and the large integers (stored in a text column in excel) keep on
getting changed to scientific notation.


is there somewhere that i can tell windows or excel-- or something--
to NEVER EVER EVER use scientific notation?

 

[aaron.kempf]

i mean seriously here

is there a way to make excel WORK?

because it's a crap program and i dont understand why you babies use
this program.

i mean-- grow up and learn a real program.. all you're doing is
cramping my style.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

i mean seriously here

is there a way to make excel WORK?

because it's a crap program and i dont understand why you babies use
this program.

i mean-- grow up and learn a real program.. all you're doing is
cramping my style.

It sounds like it is you that should either learn the program that you are
using; or use a program that meets your requirements.


Since you think Excel is "a crap program", why are you even here?

Troll?


--ron

 

[aaron.kempf]

i believe that Excel is mis-managed by the worlds most powerful
software company.

Excel doesnt work.

I mean-- i have a column with mixed large numbers; and excel keeps on
rendering it as scientific notation.. i mean-- wtf is up with Excel; it
is like the most buggy program ever written

 

[JE McGimpsey]

You obviously don't have very much experience with other software. XL
has bugs, but there are far more worthy candidates for your hyperbole.

Take a look at "About custom number formats" in XL Help.

 

[Jordon]

Don't waste your time. The guy is either a troll or the most immature
person to visit a newsgroup. He'd probably walk into an AA meeting,
offering to buy a round for the group and when no one took him up
on his offer, start preaching that AA is a cult.

"JE McGimpsey"wrote

 

[aaron.kempf]

the formatting doesn't work as advertised.

how do i get rid of scientific notation in cells from excel?

i never want to see any scientific notation in another cell-- ever
again.

how do i import it into a database without having it cough?

it should all be easier-- it should all be more reliable.

and i just wish that MS would fix these bugs.. i mean.. use the
product-- get a newbie and watch them and make it more useable.

it doesn't work.. i've worked with hundreds of newbies before.. and im
just tired of apologizing for the bugginess of the software..

i just wish that things would work reliably.

 

[Harlan Grove]

the formatting doesn't work as advertised.

Yes it does, but you don't seem to understand the specs.

how do i get rid of scientific notation in cells from excel?

....

Set the number format to something other than Scientific *OR* General. If
you use the General number format, you'll get numbers in scientific notation
when columns aren't wide enough to display in normal format. This is no
different from many other numeric applications that use a 'general' format
by default to display floating point reals.

how do i import it into a database without having it cough?

Again, set the number format correctly, and you shouldn't have a problem. If
you do in some database, then the problem is in the *DATABASE*, not Excel,
so further bitching & moaning in this newsgroup would be OT.

 

[aaron.kempf]

i dont believe that works correctly.

sorry.

i want microsoft to fix it.

 

[Jordon]

i dont believe that works correctly.

sorry.

i want microsoft to fix it.

And I want to win the Lotto

 

[aaron.kempf]

yeah. well.. i'm not the one that is selling crappy software

 

[Harlan Grove]

i dont believe that works correctly.

You can believe the world is flat, the universe is centered on the Earth,
you're not obtuse, and other demonstrably false propositions and it won't
make them true.

FORMAT CELLS CONTAINING NUMBERS TO ENSURE THEY DISPLAY THE WAY YOU WANT.
*YOUR* failure to do so is *YOUR* problem alone, and there's squat all
Microsoft needs to fix (other than perhaps offering to pay for you to have a
lobotomy and/or one-way transit to a deserted island in the Indian Ocean).

i want microsoft to fix it.

What's to fix? This is *DOCUMENTED* functionality, *AND* it's familiar to
*ANYONE* who's used *ANY* spreadsheet under MS/PC-DOS or Windows. Also
familiar to anyone who's programmed in any scripting language including VBA
(e.g., enter the following statements in the VBE Immediate window

? (1234# * 5678#) ^ 9#

? (12# * 34#) ^ 5#

). Anyone who knows C's printf format strings knows the difference between
%e (scientific), %f ('normal') and %g ('general') floating point number
formats. It's also part of FORTRAN 95,

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/UserInfo/R...e/man/info/en_US/xlf/html/lr92.HTM#HDRH000062

That you don't understand this concept is obvious, but just because you're
unwilling or unable to grasp this doesn't mean there's anything for
Microsoft to fix.

And to repeat, if numeric data is being pulled into some DBMS in scientific
format, doesn't the DBMS provide facilities to format those numbers some
other way? Or are you saying the *DBMS* is importing numeric data in
scientific format as text? Either way, it ain't Excel causing the problem.

 

[Harlan Grove]

yeah. well.. i'm not the one that is selling crappy software

No, you're the one who refuses to accept how the software works and refuses
to understant that it works the same way nearly all numeric software does
when representing floating point numbers of arbitrary magnitude as text on
output when you the user haven't bothered to specify your desired number
format.

For some, ignorance is bliss. For you it's just a way of life.

 

[aaron.kempf]

the DBMS doesnt have a problem

THE ****ING PROBLEM IS THAT YOU CAN'T TURN OFF SCIENTIFIC NOTATION IN
EXCEL

what a piece of crap program.. i mean-- seriously here.. take this
program and SHOVE IT microsoft

fix your ****ing bugs before you try to sell us on the next great thing

what a ****ing lazy ass piece of shit company.

fix your bugs microsoft

 

[aaron.kempf]

i dont want to win the lotto

i just want to use products from a company that is HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR
THEIR BUGS

microsoft is fat and lazy

 

[Harlan Grove]

(e-mail address removed) wrote...

the DBMS doesnt have a problem

THE ****ING PROBLEM IS THAT YOU CAN'T TURN OFF SCIENTIFIC NOTATION IN
EXCEL

....

Yes you can. I've already told you how to do so. You're too damn stupid
to realize that, and you so damn immature you'd much rather bitch,
whine & moan that get any real work done or learn how to use any tool
other than your one-size-fits-all database. It's you who are pathetic.

Perhaps the point here is that there are some people (you) who are just
too damn stupid to learn to do more than one thing in their useless
lives.

 

[Jordon]

(e-mail address removed) wrote...

you'd much rather bitch,

^^^^^^

You misspelled troll

Jordon

 

[Harlan Grove]

(e-mail address removed) wrote...

the DBMS doesnt have a problem

....

Should have concentrated on this statement. Numbers imported from an
..XLS file that appear in scientific format in the .XLS file would come
through as either numbers or text in the database.

If they come through as numbers but merely appear in scientific format,
can't your database display them in a different number format? Are you
just complaining because you don't know how to change number formats?

If they come through as text, but (to repeat) they were numbers in
Excel, then how can even your tiny, poorly functioning brain conclude
that Excel (in which these were numbers) is in any way responsible for
how your database imports these cells? It'd be the database that's
importing the .Text rather than .Value property of these cells, then
failing to be able to recognize scientific notation as a valid number
format.

Now, if I've been misinterpretting your complaint, and in fact you mean
*ACCESS* is crappy software, then you have a point. IMO, it really
sucks that Access can't handle COUNT(DISTINCT ..) and can't handle * as
Field and COUNT as function in the Query Builder.

 

[aaron.kempf]

no; they are coming in as scientific notation

i have a column called part number or something lke that

when it sees a part number 9123456789012 it converts that to scientific
notation. and excel hoses up the data.

the column isn't all numeric-- i can't make it all numeric because it
has some part # 1445H; etc

I just can't figure out how to handle this on the excel side.

I've written UDFs that can solve this on the db side-- that part is
easy.

i just wish that i could turn off all scientific notation on a workbook

 

[Jordon]

when it sees a part number 9123456789012 it converts that to scientific
notation. and excel hoses up the data.

Please, we're all dying to know. Just what does 9123456789012 look
like when it comes out the other end?

Jordon