16 digit numbers

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pikapika13

I think Excel can not handle 16 digit numbers bc it sets a limit.
Besides changing the number to text, is there a way so I can still us
a 16 digit number? For example: I have this number:
1111222233334444. But excel would round it to:
1111222233334440
 
Excel can store only 15 digits of precision; anything beyond that
is lost. You can store longer numbers as text, but then you lose
the ability to do accurate math with them. To have Excel treat
the number as text, format the cell as Text prior to entering the
data, or prefix the data with an apostrophe (').


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
 
The "limit" is set by IEEE, who set the standards for saving double precision
numbers. That's what Excel uses.

If this is a "number" that isn't used in calculations, type an apostrophe (')
before entering it.
 
All 15-digit and most 16-digit integers can be exactly represented in
IEEE double precision. It takes 17 digits to uniquely identify a binary
approximation. Many (most?) IEEE double precision packages display 17
figures to give direct access to the full available precision.
Presumably Excel only displays (and truncates on input to) 15 digits to
avoid questions like "why when I enter 9007199254740993 do I get
9007199254740992 instead?"

1111222233334444 is exactly representable, and can be entered as
=1111222233334440+4
for calculation purposes, but there is no way to get Excel to
numerically display more than 15 digits. However

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.excel/msg/6efb95785d1eaff5

gives a limited approach to displaying as text more than 15 digits of
the numeric value in a cell.
 
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