Excel 2003 math error

  • Thread starter Thread starter cyraxote
  • Start date Start date
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cyraxote

I have a cell that evaluates to 318.43. When I multiply that cell by
156, Excel gives me 49674.51, but the correct result, when I do the
math by hand (and by Google), is 49675.08.

What the ___ is going on?
 
Hi

Try extending the number of places of decimal on the first cell, and you
will probably see that it is not 318.43 but something smaller (318.4263)
which has been rounded to 318.43
With your evaluation formula that results in a displayed value of 318.43 in
say C1, try
=ROUND(C1,2)*156
 
Eddie said:
Excel doesn't make simple mathematical errors of this kind!

Your result suggests that the original number was 318.42634
and NOT 318.43 as you reported.

It's just the number of significant figures that the cell
is displaying. The underlying accuracy is still correct.

Eddie
Click to expand...

Eddie,

To refute your first claim I suggest you have a look at the following link:
 
Your youtube link shows a well known display issue (the underlying math was
correct, but the result was not displayed correctly buy in a very narrow set
of circumstances) for the initial release of Excel 2007 only that was fixed
by a patch last October
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/943075

AFAIK, all versions of Excel uses the IEEE standard math routines built into
the processor chip, instead of reprogramming them from scratch. As such, I
am not aware of any math errors in basic 4-function arithmetic. Where
problems occur, it is with algorithm choices for higher level functions that
were written from scratch.

Jerry
 
Eddie,

To refute your first claim I suggest you have a look at the following link:
Click to expand...

Your demonstration has nothing at all to do with the original poster's problem
in Excel 2003. Rather it demonstrates a display bug in Excel 2007 that was
fixed by SP1 quite a while ago.
--ron
 
Ron said:
Your demonstration has nothing at all to do with the original poster's problem
in Excel 2003. Rather it demonstrates a display bug in Excel 2007 that was
fixed by SP1 quite a while ago.
--ron
Click to expand...

Correct. I was simply making a point that Excel is not infallible.

As Jerry W Lewis noted, problems occurs with higher-level functions and
not simple arithmetic.
 
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