Excel 2003 Multiplication Question

[Stumped In Indy]

If I use a calculator to multiply $2,136,974 x 1.1201 x 0.9440, I get an
answer of $2,259,582 (This should be the correct answer -- the last two
numbers in the formula are supposed to be loads and decrements to the
original number)

If I multiply these same numbers in Excel using the same order and a formula
of E10*E17*E18, I get an answer of $23,386

If I multiply these same numbers in Excel using the same order and a formula
of E10*1+E17*1+E18, I get an answer of $2,136,976

What am I doing wrong in setting up the Excel formula? I'm using Excel 2003
Professional, but I don't think that makes any difference.

 

[David Biddulph]

Your formula of E10*1+E17*1+E18 is of course *adding* the numbers, rather
than multiplying them, so that is the expected answer (actually
2,136,976.0641).

I don't understand the 23,386, so I can only suggest that you recheck the
formula, and give it an F9 to recalculate in case the calculation mode is
set to manual. If you are still struggling, I would suggest that you upload
the file to somewhere like http://www.savefile.com/ and let us know the url
so that we can check.

 

[T. Valko]

I get an answer of $23,386

I get a result of 2259581.6010656 and, depending on how wide the column is,
Excel will display 2259582.

 

[Stumped In Indy]

This is an annual cost number which I am applying 12% inflation number and
then taking that adjusted number and doing a value adjustment that drops that
number by 5.6%. Maybe you have a better way of formulating the cell to get
the correct answer.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

On Sun, 2 Nov 2008 10:55:00 -0800, Stumped In Indy <Stumped In

If I use a calculator to multiply $2,136,974 x 1.1201 x 0.9440, I get an
answer of $2,259,582 (This should be the correct answer -- the last two
numbers in the formula are supposed to be loads and decrements to the
original number)

If I multiply these same numbers in Excel using the same order and a formula
of E10*E17*E18, I get an answer of $23,386

If I multiply these same numbers in Excel using the same order and a formula
of E10*1+E17*1+E18, I get an answer of $2,136,976

What am I doing wrong in setting up the Excel formula? I'm using Excel 2003
Professional, but I don't think that makes any difference.

For the second formula, what would you expect the result to be?

If the result is different than what you expect, you are likely ignoring the
documented precedence of operators. You can control that by adding appropriate
parentheses.

With regard to the first formula, I get the same answer as does your
calculator, so there is likely an error in your formula or your data that is
not apparent from your post.
--ron

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Well, there's nothing wrong with the formula, as stated it should work fine.
You want to make sure your decimal places are correct, that you are doing
multiplication not exponentiation (using ^ instead of * since they are right
next to each other).

Try this: in the formula =E10*E17*E18 select E10 and press F9 note the
results, is it correct, press Esc not Enter and do the same thing for E17 and
E18. These should match the numbers you quoted us.

 

[Barb Reinhardt]

Check this. Go to Tools -> Options -> Calculation. Do you have Precision
as displayed selected?

 

[T. Valko]

As I noted in my other reply, I get the apparently correct answer that
you're expecting.

If you get $23,386 which is way off then something is terribly wrong.

It's probably something simple that you're overlooking. If those figures you
posted are generated by formulas then double and triple check them and make
sure they are returning the correct results.