auto rounding for quadrillion numerals

[Guest]

I am trying to enter a number that is in the quadrillion range, nowever,
Excel automatically rounds it to the zero. For example, if I type in the
following numeric 123,456,789,123,456,789,123,456,789 Excel gives me
123,456,789,123,456,000,000,000,000. I have the cell formatted as Number,
with no decimals and changing Excel's precision settings with no luck.

I am seeing this in Excel 2000, 2003, and 2007.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks!

 

[Chip Pearson]

Excel is limited to approximately 15 digits of precision. Everything beyond
that is rounded. If you are not planning on doing math with these numbers,
you can format the cell for Text before entering the data or you can precede
the number with an apostrophe. The apostrophe will not be displayed in the
cell but will be visible in the formula bar. But if you try to do math with
these numbers, you'll be in rounding no man's land. See
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/rounding.htm for information about Excel and
rounding.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting
www.cpearson.com
(email on the web site)