Adding only 2 numbers doesn't come up with correct sum

  • Thread starter Thread starter dental321
  • Start date Start date
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dental321

I am adding 3 numbers in a column. It doesn't give me a correct answer.

Numbers to add:

37.40
13.25
64.11
Excel total is $114.75 and shoulod be $114.76

Does anyone know what is going on? It's doing it here and there within the
spreadsheet.

Thanks!
 
Where are the source numbers coming from- are they physically entered, or are
they equations? My first guess (since additional details were not provided)
is that they are formulas, and that Excel is rounding to the nearest 2nd
decimal because of cell formatting- but Excel will keep the extended decimals
in the background, so when you add them up you will see differences based on
rounding error. If you need a true (post rounded) total, then you can get
that, but not with a direct SUM statement.

Example of what I suspect is happening:
Numbers to add: Showing in cell as:

37.396 37.40
13.248 13.25
64.109 64.11
---------- -------------
114.753 114.76
114.75 (rounded) 114.76 (rounded)

Depending on your specific situation, you might add the rounding in the
original source formula, or create a new column that is =round(A1,2) to get
the rounded values to work with.

You could probably also just use an array formula, something like
=sum(round(A1:A3),2)
entered with ctrl-alt-enter (when it is entered correctly, you will see
squiggle brackets around the formula in the formula bar; but do no enter
those brackets by hand, Excel won't accept that as a method of entering an
array formula)
 
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