Excel formulas/cells

[Wingate]

What to do when a formula is entered correctly (and works in some cells),
however, it does not work in others.

Example:
5 columns; Year 1 Budget (a), Year 1 Expenditures (b), Year 2 Budget (c),
Year 2 Expenditures (d), Total (e) (assuming this is line 1)

the equation in column e should be:

=sum(a1-b1+c1-d1)
This works in most of the cells - others will not "take" the equation and
revert to "0"

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Not sure what you mean by "take" and "revert" - do the formulae not show
up in the formula bar?

There's no reason to be using SUM(). This is equivalent:

E1: = A1 - B1 + C1 - D1

Copying down should adjust the row numbers to suit.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Maybe some of the cells have text that looks like a number.

Test by =ISNUMBER(cellref)

If you get some that return FALSE then you will have to Format all to General.

Copy an empty cell.

Select the range to change and Edit>SpecialAdd>OK>Esc.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP