=sum doesn't work properly

[Jewels]

I'm confused! I've been entering =sum formulas without a problem. Suddenly,
today, all I get is a "0" total instead of the sum of the column. For
instance, =sum(d36:d43) should equal 17, but it shows a 0. The cells are
formatted as "general". What happened?

 

[Lynda]

Have you tried formating the cells as numbers?

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

I'm confused! I've been entering =sum formulas without a problem. Suddenly,
today, all I get is a "0" total instead of the sum of the column. For
instance, =sum(d36:d43) should equal 17, but it shows a 0. The cells are
formatted as "general". What happened?

Somewhere along the line, the values in the range were entered as or converted
to text. They will retain that attribute until you convert them back to
numbers. How to do this will depend on the contents of the cell, and perhaps
on how this initial conversion took place.

You can always change them back by re-entering them.

If they are the result of a formula, ensure your formula is not returning a
TEXT result.

You might be able to select a blank cell, then
Edit/Copy
then select d36:d43
Edit/Paste Special Add

--ron