Welcome to the Excel Forum

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.

Please Register to Remove these Ads

Please Register to Remove these Ads



Reply
  #1  
Old 07-04-2009, 05:57 PM
hound hound is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: 04 Jul 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
MS Office Version:Excel 2003
Posts: 4
hound is becoming part of the community
Circular reference

Please Register to Remove these Ads

Hi. I have a need to make two cells reference each other. ie the formula of A1 is "=B1" and the formula of B1 is "=A1". I want this so that my user can enter a number in either of these cells and it will then populate the other cell.

Excel errors when I open this files saying "Excel cannot calculate a formula. Cell references in the formula refer to the formula's result. etc etc"

I think I can resolve this by clicking the iterations box in the "Tools, Options, calculations" box but this sets the paramaters for the whole of excel not just this spread sheet. Any advise would be appreciated.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-04-2009, 06:33 PM
deadlyduck deadlyduck is offline
Valued Forum Contributor
 
Join Date: 31 Aug 2007
Location: SW Ireland
Posts: 273
deadlyduck is becoming part of the community
Re: Circular reference

If you enter this type of formula into these 2 cells, Excel won't be able to determine the relevant answer for either cell. It will see in A1 that the value depends upon what you entered in B1, but the value in B1 depends upon what you entered in A1. Hence, an infinite loop ("circular reference") arises.

You will need to force your users to manually enter a value in one cell only and then use a formula to populate the other cell
__________________
Excel 2003 user (and starting to warm to Excel 2007)
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-04-2009, 06:58 PM
hound hound is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: 04 Jul 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
MS Office Version:Excel 2003
Posts: 4
hound is becoming part of the community
Re: Circular reference

thnaks...is there any way to assign a macro to an individual cell? That way I could allow the user to input in any cell and then use the macro to copy it to it's partner cell?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-04-2009, 07:36 PM
shg's Avatar
shg shg is online now
Forum Guru
 
Join Date: 20 Jun 2007
Location: The Great State of Texas
MS Office Version:2003, 2007
Posts: 18,538
shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay shg makes giving solutions look like childsplay
Re: Circular reference

You can have a macro to do that, but a) it eliminates the ability to Undo, and b) requires users to enable macros -- which is fine if you already require macros, but probably overkill for this requirement.

Can you explain what you're trying to do, and post an example?
__________________
Entia non sunt multiplicanda sine necessitate.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 07-04-2009, 08:03 PM
hound hound is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: 04 Jul 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
MS Office Version:Excel 2003
Posts: 4
hound is becoming part of the community
Re: Circular reference

Thanks...Here is what I am trying to do. I have a grid where I need to record winning and losing scores between two people. So the winning score for person A is the losing score for person B. I want the user to be able to enter in either person A or Person B. Please see attachement.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 07-04-2009, 08:07 PM
hound hound is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: 04 Jul 2009
Location: Sydney, Australia
MS Office Version:Excel 2003
Posts: 4
hound is becoming part of the community
Re: Circular reference

here is the example...
Attached Files
File Type: xls circ.xls (23.5 KB, 5 views)
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 07-04-2009, 08:47 PM
martindwilson's Avatar
martindwilson martindwilson is online now
Forum Guru
 
Join Date: 23 Jun 2007
Location: London,England
MS Office Version:office 97 ,2003 ,2007
Posts: 6,083
martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding martindwilson Has a higher level of understanding
Re: Circular reference

you could just ignore the circular ref warning
__________________
Mojito connoisseur and a dabbler in Cisco
where does code go ?
look here
how to insert code

how to enter array formula


recommended reading
wiki Mojito

how to say no convincingly

most important think you need
Reply With Quote


Reply

Bookmarks


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

Forum Jump