changing a cell from date to a number

[mwhite]

I entered a number in a cell. When I went to the next cell, the number i
just entered changed to a date. What do I need to do to keep the number
there and not have the date keep showing up?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

What number did you enter?

If you entered just digits (or digits and a decimal point), change the
format of the cell to General or a Number format.

If you entered the number as a fraction, e.g., 1/3, XL's parser will
always try to interpret that as a date. To enter this type of fraction,
include the 0, e.g.,:

0 1/3