Big numbers get rounded ...?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mac
  • Start date Start date
M

Mac

Hello,
why does it happen that, when I enter in a cell a number like:

38 685 626 227 668 133 590 601 792,

in the cell it immediately appears as:

38 685 626 227 668 100 000 000 000?

I tried formatting the cells (General, Number), but nothing prevents this
behaviour. Why is that and how can I get rid of it? Thank you.
 
Preformat the cell as Text, then do the data entry
or
starty your data with an apostrophe '38 685 ....
 
Hi Mac,

As for the why part of your question, it's because of the limitations
of Excel. It is limited to 15 significant digits for numbers, if you need
any more than that you have to go to text as the others have posted.
Do a Google search (or the Excel Help file) for Excel limitations for
lots more info.

HTH
Martin
 
why does it happen that, when I enter in a cell a number like:
38 685 626 227 668 133 590 601 792,
in the cell it immediately appears as:
38 685 626 227 668 100 000 000 000?
Click to expand...

You need to decide: is this truly a number that you intend to do
arithmetic on (e.g. add it to other numbers); or is this really just
an identifier (e.g. an account number)?

If it is the latter (identifier), you must enter it as text so that
Excel will not try to interpret it as a number. You can do that by
formatting the cell as Text before you enter the data, or by typing an
apostrophe (') as the first character of the data.

If it is a truly a number, there is nothing you can do about it.
Excel rounds data input to the 15 most-significant digits.
 
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