multiply negatives

I want to mulitply 2 #
# may or may not be negative
if it is negative the answer should show that eg:

a=-33.04*b=-1.69

What is the formula????

at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83

Help

Is this a trick question?

You multiplied -33.04 * -1.69 and got +11.83?

I guess I don't understand your question. Excel does math just like anyone else, eg, a negative times a negative = a postive.

Please explain further

In your example we'll assume that:

Cell A10 contains a value of -33.04
Cell A11 contains a value of -1.69

The formula in cell A12 would be

=A10*A11

The result displayed is cell A12 would be 55.8376 as a positive value.

HTH |:>)
"Penny" wrote:

> I want to mulitply 2 #
> # may or may not be negative
> if it is negative the answer should show that eg:
>
> a=-33.04*b=-1.69
>
> What is the formula????
>
> at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83
>
> Help

Penny

I have no idea how you get that answer

A2 = -33.04
B2 = -1.69
C2 = =A2*B2 = 55.8376
D2 = =A2/B2 = 19.5502958579882
A3 = =A2*2 = -66.08

Regards

Trevor


"Penny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I want to mulitply 2 #
> # may or may not be negative
> if it is negative the answer should show that eg:
>
> a=-33.04*b=-1.69
>
> What is the formula????
>
> at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83
>
> Help

Penny,

Would =IF(AND(A1<0,B1<0),-(A1*B1),A1*B1) do what you want? With the data I
get -18.6576 with the formula.

HTH

Sandy

--
to e-mail direct replace @mailinator.com with @tiscali.co.uk


"Penny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I want to mulitply 2 #
> # may or may not be negative
> if it is negative the answer should show that eg:
>
> a=-33.04*b=-1.69
>
> What is the formula????
>
> at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83
>
> Help

Sandy

how, exactly, do you get -18.6576 ?

I just tried your formula and got -55.8376

-18.6576 is just about a third of the correct result.

Not sure why you would want to multiply two negatives and give a negative
result ... that would screw some basic maths calculations.

Regards

Trevor


"Sandy Mann" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Penny,
>
> Would =IF(AND(A1<0,B1<0),-(A1*B1),A1*B1) do what you want? With the data
> I
> get -18.6576 with the formula.
>
> HTH
>
> Sandy
>
> --
> to e-mail direct replace @mailinator.com with @tiscali.co.uk
>
>
> "Penny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I want to mulitply 2 #
>> # may or may not be negative
>> if it is negative the answer should show that eg:
>>
>> a=-33.04*b=-1.69
>>
>> What is the formula????
>>
>> at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83
>>
>> Help
>
>

Hi Trevor,

> how, exactly, do you get -18.6576 ?
I mistakenly took the OP's result instead of the first data item.

> Not sure why you would want to multiply two negatives and give a negative
> result ... that would screw some basic maths calculations.

I don't know either, that was my interpretation of the OP's instruction

> # may or may not be negative
> if it is negative the answer should show that eg:
<snip>
> at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83


=IF(AND(A1<0,B1<0),-(A1*B1),A1*B1)/4.72
would give the OP's required -11.83

Regards

Sandy

--
to e-mail direct replace @mailinator.com with @tiscali.co.uk


"Trevor Shuttleworth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Sandy
>
> how, exactly, do you get -18.6576 ?
>
> I just tried your formula and got -55.8376
>
> -18.6576 is just about a third of the correct result.
>
> Not sure why you would want to multiply two negatives and give a negative
> result ... that would screw some basic maths calculations.
>
> Regards
>
> Trevor
>
>
> "Sandy Mann" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Penny,
> >
> > Would =IF(AND(A1<0,B1<0),-(A1*B1),A1*B1) do what you want? With the
data
> > I
> > get -18.6576 with the formula.
> >
> > HTH
> >
> > Sandy
> >
> > --
> > to e-mail direct replace @mailinator.com with @tiscali.co.uk
> >
> >
> > "Penny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >> I want to mulitply 2 #
> >> # may or may not be negative
> >> if it is negative the answer should show that eg:
> >>
> >> a=-33.04*b=-1.69
> >>
> >> What is the formula????
> >>
> >> at the moment the result shows up as a positive 11.83
> >>
> >> Help
> >
> >
>
>