PLEASE HELP--going crazy with a simple calculation

D

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!
 
G

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,
 
D

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!
 
D

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'!!
 
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