what is plus sign in'=+(a1/b1)'?

[Ian Elliott]

All help appreciated:

I have a workbook that someone else made that has a
formula that I am unsure of:
=+(('RS MTD'!$H$31/1000)*12)/C37

what does the plus sign ('+') do here?
Of course, RS MTD is the name of another worksheet in this
workbook.

Thanks.

 

[Anon]

All help appreciated:

I have a workbook that someone else made that has a
formula that I am unsure of:
=+(('RS MTD'!$H$31/1000)*12)/C37

what does the plus sign ('+') do here?
Of course, RS MTD is the name of another worksheet in this
workbook.

Thanks.

It doesn't do anything useful and can be omitted.
It may be a leftover from Lotus, where (I believe) formulas started with +
rather than =.

 

[John Wilson]

Ian,

The plus sign does nothing in the formula that you posted.
It's a holdover for compatibility with Lotus123 which used
the plus sign in place of the equal sign.

=(('RS MTD'!$H$31/1000)*12)/C37

will work fine.

John

 

[Loren]

you are allowed to start an XL formula by using the + key and it adds
the = later

 

[John Wilson]

Loren,

If you start with a "+" sign, Excel will automatically precede it
with an "=" sign because that's what Excel uses to denote what
follows as a formula (and not a text string).
You are "allowed" to start with a plus only for compatibility
with Lotus123 which used the "+" and not the "=" to denote
a formula.
While the "+" doesn't in any way affect the formula, it's totally
unnecessary to have it there.

John