Formula displayed; Not calculating?

[evoxfan]

This is my formula: =LEFT(A8,3)
A8 = "00500"
A8 is formatted as text.
Per the functions argument, the reult should be "005".
Instead, the formula is displayed instead of the result.

Why is this not displayed and how can I correct?

 

[Niek Otten]

The cell was formatted as text when you entered the formula.
Format as General AND re-enter the formula (F2, ENTER)

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

Change the format in the cell with the formula to general

--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi,

yes, Excel says the argument is text but what it means is that it treat the
argument as text, not that the function should be entered into a cell
formatted as text. The LEFT, RIGHT and MID function return text, which means
if you have a formula such as =LEFT(A1,2) and A1 contains a number 12345
Excel returns the text 12, the result is text not a number. But you can
easily convert it back to a number if need be.