Excel incorrectly calculated a formula. Why? How?

[Guest]

Excel incorrectly calculated a formula. Why, how do I fix it?

 

[Guest]

my formula says =sum(C3-(G1:G5))
It comes up and says 0, when it should say 149.26

HELP

 

[Guest]

A few more details might be helpful ....

what was the formula, what was the data and what was the result?

 

[Guest]

Try writing it like this:

=C3-SUM(G1:G5)

HTH,
Elkar

 

[Guest]

you probably need
=C3-sum(G1:G5)

my formula says =sum(C3-(G1:G5))
It comes up and says 0, when it should say 149.26

HELP

 

[Guest]

=C3-SUM(G1:G5)

my formula says =sum(C3-(G1:G5))
It comes up and says 0, when it should say 149.26

HELP

 

[Guest]

I tried this and still get the same wrong answer of 0.

 

[Chip Pearson]

It is very possible that the cells with the values are text, not numeric.


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

 

[Guest]

What is in C3 and G1:G5?

I tried this and still get the same wrong answer of 0.

 

[Guest]

What is your data in C3 and in G1:G5?

Are G1:G5 formatted as Text? If so, the SUM function won't recognize them.
Try formatting as Number or General.

How is the cell formatted where you are entering the formula? Try changing
it to "General" and see what happens.

Are Automatic Calculations turned on?
TOOLS-->OPTIONS-->CALCULATION Tab-->Check "Automatic"

HTH,
Elkar

 

[Harlan Grove]

(e-mail address removed) wrote...

my formula says =sum(C3-(G1:G5))
It comes up and says 0, when it should say 149.26

....

What does =COUNT(C3,G1:G5) return?

 

[Guest]

C3 has "1139.28" G1 = "400.00" G2= "280.00" G3 = "65.00" G4 =" 206.52"
G5="38.5" so therefore, G1:G5 = 990.02, and 1139.28-990.02=149.26.

I tried all of the formatting suggestions, every cell is now formatted as
number.

 

[Guest]

If the numbers were formatted as text, then simply changing the format might
not be enough. Now that you've set the new format to Number, re-enter the
numbers. You can just select each cell and hit F2 then ENTER. This will
ensure that the old text value is replaced with a number.

HTH,
Elkar

 

[Harlan Grove]

If the numbers were formatted as text, then simply changing the
format might not be enough. . . .

Not 'might', isn't.

. . . Now that you've set the new format to Number, re-enter the
numbers. You can just select each cell and hit F2 then ENTER.

....

Or copy a blank cell, select the other cells (C3 and G1:G5), and run
the menu command Edit > Paste Special, Add.

"(e-mail address removed)" wrote...

....

You mean G1:G5 sum to 990.02. Does =SUM(G1:G5) return 990.02? You're
confusing the matter by displaying these cells' values in double
quotes unless you mean they're text that just happens to look like
numbers.

One more thing you need to check. Run the menu command Tools > Options
to display the Options dialog. Click on the Transition tab. You may
need to uncheck Transition formula evaluation.