Date formatting problem

[Michael]

I have an unusual problem and would appreciate any help. I
have a spreadsheet that has date values in it, such
as "2/3/1972". In the formula bar it is correct (includes
an = sign at the beginning), but it displays "1/1/1900" in
the cell and uses that value in calculations. When I apply
a different date format, it still shows some variation
of "January 1, 1900" in the cell and I can't get it to
change. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I think that excel is seeing your =2/3/1972 as a giant division problem.

=(2/3)/1972
which evaluates to: 0.000338066
which is 01/00/1900 00:00:29.21
Just slightly after midnight for that day.

Try selecting your range and change
=
to
(leave blank)

(I had mm/dd/yyyy as my short date and 2/3/1972 got converted to Feb 3, 1972.
Make your windows start button|Settings|control panel|regional settings
applet|Date|Short format match your data before you do the mass change.)