What's Wrong with This?

  • Thread starter Thread starter D
  • Start date Start date
D

D

Hey guys-
Sorry for the multi-post, but didn't know which group this belongs to...

I have 2 columns for dates. Sometimes only one of the two has an entry in
it. Sometimes they both do. Although, they're NEVER both blank. I am trying
to create a function that will compare the 2 dates (if there's even 2
there), and find out which one is the earliest of the two. If one date is
missing from one column, it will just use the other date as the entry. Once
it finds the earliest date between them, I want it to count how many days
from the earliest date till today's date. I thought I did this right, but,
the results are returning a #VALUE! answer. Can someone see what's going on
here and tell me how to make this work?
Thanks!

=IF(L2="", DAYS360(V2,TODAY())), IF(V2="", DAYS360(L2,TODAY())), IF(L2<V2,
DAYS360(L2,TODAY())), IF(L2>V2, DAYS360(V2,TODAY())), IF(L2=V2,
DAYS360(L2,TODAY()))

D
 
=TODAY()-MIN(L2,V2)

--

HTH

Bob Phillips
... looking out across Poole Harbour to the Purbecks
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)
 
Nope- doesn't work. I have a value of 7/1/04 in L2, and V2 is blank. The
result is ########. I also need this to be able to calculate the days in a
negative number if the earliest date between the 2 dates is already past
today's date... Got any ideas?
Thanks!
D
 
Sorry for the multi-post, but didn't know which group this belongs to...
Click to expand...

Your terminology is incorrect. You crossposted, which is OK.
I have 2 columns for dates. Sometimes only one of the two has an entry in
it. Sometimes they both do. Although, they're NEVER both blank. I am trying
to create a function that will compare the 2 dates (if there's even 2
there), and find out which one is the earliest of the two. If one date is
missing from one column, it will just use the other date as the entry. Once
it finds the earliest date between them, I want it to count how many days
from the earliest date till today's date. I thought I did this right, but,
the results are returning a #VALUE! answer. Can someone see what's going on
here and tell me how to make this work?
Thanks!

=IF(L2="", DAYS360(V2,TODAY())), IF(V2="", DAYS360(L2,TODAY())), IF(L2<V2,
DAYS360(L2,TODAY())), IF(L2>V2, DAYS360(V2,TODAY())), IF(L2=V2,
DAYS360(L2,TODAY()))
Click to expand...

Do you really need DAYS360?

If not, and if L2 or V2 could be after today's date, then

=ABS(TODAY()-MIN(L2,V2))

If you need DAYS360,

=IF(TODAY()<MIN(L2,V2),DAYS360(TODAY(),MIN(L2,V2)),DAYS360(MIN(L2,V2),TODAY()))
 
ok- using the ABS version works, kind of. It counts the days, but doesn't
return a negative value. ie- the earliest date is already past 86 days ago-
3/24/04. So, I need this to show as a -86 days, instead of a positive 86
days. Is there a work-around for this?
THANK YOU!
D
 
BTW- how do I know if I need DAYS360 or not? Most the dates will be AFTER
today's date, but, eventually will lapse over to being BEFORE todays date,
so I need both instances...
Thanks
D
 
=Abs(TODAY()-MIN(L2,V2))*if(MIN(L2,V2)>Today(),-1,1)

or
=Abs(TODAY()-MIN(L2,V2))*Sign(Today()-MIN(L2,V2))

It doesn't sound like you need days360
 
ok- using the ABS version works, kind of. It counts the days, but doesn't
return a negative value. ie- the earliest date is already past 86 days ago-
3/24/04. So, I need this to show as a -86 days, instead of a positive 86
days. Is there a work-around for this?
Click to expand...

Use Bob Phillips's formula,

=TODAY()-MIN(L2,V2)

but make sure you format the cell as Number with zero decimal places. If you use
General format, entering the TODAY function causes (oh so @#$%&*! helpful) Excel
to change the cell to a date format, in which case negative values cause the
cell to display ########.
 
BTW- how do I know if I need DAYS360 or not? Most the dates will be AFTER
today's date, but, eventually will lapse over to being BEFORE todays date,
so I need both instances...
Click to expand...
...

You don't need any function to count the number of days between two dates. Excel
stores date values as the number of days from 1-Mar-1900 plus 61. So
ABS(OneDate-AnotherDate) is the number of days between two dates ignoring which
is earlier and which later.

Read online help for DAYS360 to find out if you need to use it, though it seems
from your response that you don't need it, so shouldn't use it.
 
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