Keep numbers as entered with trailing zeros

[Allie]

Hello,

I've been measuring weights and recording them in excel. The problem
is that I want to keep a record of the accuracy of the measurements.
That is, if I enter 6.10, I want to know that the trailing zero is
there - I don't want excel to change it to 6.1. The way I've tackled
this is to enter numbers in text format.

However, this now presents a problem, as excel won't use text-formatted
numbers in any calculations. That is, if I do at SUM() function with
the cell with 6.10 entered as text, it treats the cell as having a
value of 0.

Any suggestions for a solution to this would be much appreciated.
Thanks very much.

Best,
Alex Shenkin

 

[Niek Otten]

Hi Alex,

Never enter numbers as text. You'll get into trouble some time, as you've noticed.
If you need the number of decimals for whatever reason, enter it in a separate column.

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

| Hello,
|
| I've been measuring weights and recording them in excel. The problem
| is that I want to keep a record of the accuracy of the measurements.
| That is, if I enter 6.10, I want to know that the trailing zero is
| there - I don't want excel to change it to 6.1. The way I've tackled
| this is to enter numbers in text format.
|
| However, this now presents a problem, as excel won't use text-formatted
| numbers in any calculations. That is, if I do at SUM() function with
| the cell with 6.10 entered as text, it treats the cell as having a
| value of 0.
|
| Any suggestions for a solution to this would be much appreciated.
| Thanks very much.
|
| Best,
| Alex Shenkin
|

 

[Guest]

Try formatting the cells as 'custom' 0.00 and see if that works for you.