excel shouldnt need a symbol before the first number in an equati

[stewart katz]

Whilst excel accepts a number as positive when first entered, why when adding
further entries in the cell do you have to enter a ' +' symbol before the
first number.

Surely it must be intuitive that this is going to be a formula, and that a +
symbol could then be automatically programmed for.

Supercalc (which I used for many years before even Microsoft appeared ) and
Lotus 123 both had this feature, and this saved quite a lot of time and
frustration

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[Bernard Liengme]

Actually it is = that must be used.
For example =12+6 gives 18 but 12+6 gives text
I sometimes wish 12+6 would be recognized as a formula but Excel needs the =
to know that a formula is being entered
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove caps from email

"stewart katz" <stewart [email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Whilst excel accepts a number as positive when first entered, why when
> adding
> further entries in the cell do you have to enter a ' +' symbol before the
> first number.
>
> Surely it must be intuitive that this is going to be a formula, and that a
> +
> symbol could then be automatically programmed for.
>
> Supercalc (which I used for many years before even Microsoft appeared )
> and
> Lotus 123 both had this feature, and this saved quite a lot of time and
> frustration
>
> ----------------
> This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
> suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
> Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow
> this
> link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
> click "I Agree" in the message pane.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/office/comm...heet.functions

[Gordon]

"Bernard Liengme" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:#[email protected]...
> 12+6 gives text

That's what the OP is complaining about - in Lotus if you enter "12+6"
(without the quotes), it automatically recognises it as numbers. Why Excel
should recognise numbers as "text" is beyond me.

[dominicb]

Good evening Stewart Katz

Why not go to Tools > Options, Transistion and check the Transition Formula Entry box to emulate the 1-2-3 method of entering formulae?

HTH

DominicB