PLEASE HELP--going crazy with a simple calculation

[diane]

I have 'asked' Excel to divide two cells (each cell has been set to "number;
2 digits")
The numerator is a cell that refers to another cell, where the value of the
original cell entered states 15000 (number, 2 digits); the denominator refers
to a cell that is a formula that states .67, but this is a reference to two
other cells that produce that number. All of my manual calculators state the
value should be 22388, but Excel states the value as 22500?? What have I
done wrong??
NOTE: when I manually type in .67 into the formula cell the resulting value
correctly shows 22388 -- so it must be because of the multiple reference--but
it does give me a circular reference error.
(I thought this may have been because I originally created the worksheet in
Excel 97; so I saved it into Excel 2003--still no affect)
If you would like the file, please e-mail me direct and I will send it
along: [email protected]
THANKS SO MUCH!

[Gary L Brown]

Sounds like a rounding problem.
Assume the denominator is in cell 'B1'.
Change your formula to use the rounding function, so you have something
like...
Round(B1,2)
HTH,
--
Gary Brown
gary_brown@ge_NOSPAM.com
If this post was helpful, please click the ''''Yes'''' button next to
''''Was this Post Helpfull to you?".


"diane" wrote:

> I have 'asked' Excel to divide two cells (each cell has been set to "number;
> 2 digits")
> The numerator is a cell that refers to another cell, where the value of the
> original cell entered states 15000 (number, 2 digits); the denominator refers
> to a cell that is a formula that states .67, but this is a reference to two
> other cells that produce that number. All of my manual calculators state the
> value should be 22388, but Excel states the value as 22500?? What have I
> done wrong??
> NOTE: when I manually type in .67 into the formula cell the resulting value
> correctly shows 22388 -- so it must be because of the multiple reference--but
> it does give me a circular reference error.
> (I thought this may have been because I originally created the worksheet in
> Excel 97; so I saved it into Excel 2003--still no affect)
> If you would like the file, please e-mail me direct and I will send it
> along: [email protected]
> THANKS SO MUCH!

[diane]

Thank you, Gary--it is definitely a rounding issue (I just checked Evaluate
Formula and it apparently thinks the number is .666666666...7, which then
eqauls 22500, even though I ask it to use only 2 digits--which I thought
usually forces it to 'round'). I'm not sure I know how to modify it as you
have stated here--please clarify.
Thanks!

"Gary L Brown" wrote:

> Sounds like a rounding problem.
> Assume the denominator is in cell 'B1'.
> Change your formula to use the rounding function, so you have something
> like...
> Round(B1,2)
> HTH,
> --
> Gary Brown
> gary_brown@ge_NOSPAM.com
> If this post was helpful, please click the ''''Yes'''' button next to
> ''''Was this Post Helpfull to you?".
>
>
> "diane" wrote:
>
> > I have 'asked' Excel to divide two cells (each cell has been set to "number;
> > 2 digits")
> > The numerator is a cell that refers to another cell, where the value of the
> > original cell entered states 15000 (number, 2 digits); the denominator refers
> > to a cell that is a formula that states .67, but this is a reference to two
> > other cells that produce that number. All of my manual calculators state the
> > value should be 22388, but Excel states the value as 22500?? What have I
> > done wrong??
> > NOTE: when I manually type in .67 into the formula cell the resulting value
> > correctly shows 22388 -- so it must be because of the multiple reference--but
> > it does give me a circular reference error.
> > (I thought this may have been because I originally created the worksheet in
> > Excel 97; so I saved it into Excel 2003--still no affect)
> > If you would like the file, please e-mail me direct and I will send it
> > along: [email protected]
> > THANKS SO MUCH!

[diane]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Gary! Now that I see it is
clearly a rounding issue, I checked the help section and it said I should
click "precision as displayed" --I had thought of that earlier, but was
hesitant since it said "my accuracy will never be correct"--that did not
sound good; but I gave it a shot--the formulas came out perfect. I guess the
only time one would notice this is with that 'pertpetual' numbers : 66666...7
Thanks for setting me straight! I feel so much better after spending hours
re-vamping this spreadsheet a 'hundred times'!!


"diane" wrote:

> Thank you, Gary--it is definitely a rounding issue (I just checked Evaluate
> Formula and it apparently thinks the number is .666666666...7, which then
> eqauls 22500, even though I ask it to use only 2 digits--which I thought
> usually forces it to 'round'). I'm not sure I know how to modify it as you
> have stated here--please clarify.
> Thanks!
>
> "Gary L Brown" wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a rounding problem.
> > Assume the denominator is in cell 'B1'.
> > Change your formula to use the rounding function, so you have something
> > like...
> > Round(B1,2)
> > HTH,
> > --
> > Gary Brown
> > gary_brown@ge_NOSPAM.com
> > If this post was helpful, please click the ''''Yes'''' button next to
> > ''''Was this Post Helpfull to you?".
> >
> >
> > "diane" wrote:
> >
> > > I have 'asked' Excel to divide two cells (each cell has been set to "number;
> > > 2 digits")
> > > The numerator is a cell that refers to another cell, where the value of the
> > > original cell entered states 15000 (number, 2 digits); the denominator refers
> > > to a cell that is a formula that states .67, but this is a reference to two
> > > other cells that produce that number. All of my manual calculators state the
> > > value should be 22388, but Excel states the value as 22500?? What have I
> > > done wrong??
> > > NOTE: when I manually type in .67 into the formula cell the resulting value
> > > correctly shows 22388 -- so it must be because of the multiple reference--but
> > > it does give me a circular reference error.
> > > (I thought this may have been because I originally created the worksheet in
> > > Excel 97; so I saved it into Excel 2003--still no affect)
> > > If you would like the file, please e-mail me direct and I will send it
> > > along: [email protected]
> > > THANKS SO MUCH!