Works OK for me - see attached file.
Patrick
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Question
excel subtraction not giving the correct value
I'm trying to work on a formula in excel and noticed one of my values was off by 1 number so I started testing and noticed some strange behavior (I don't use Excel regularly so this may be an easy question for some of you).
I have one cell that contains
=149797.06-153.93-50.00
that correctly shows the total 149593.13
However if I have each value in a separate column (all formatted as currency or number)
So
A1 = 149797.06
A2 = 153.93
A3 = 50.00
and in another cell have
=A1-A2-A3
I get back 149593.14
I'm thinking some kind of rounding issue, but the numbers I'm using have only two decimal places. What am I doing wrong?
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Answers
In A1, A2, and A3 are they calculated values. If so, you are probably getting a visual display of a calculated value with a zillion decimals, but only showing two. Then the answer takes into account the decimals that are not showing in A1, A2, and A3. If that's not it, give me some more info. I've seen this a million times, but it usually has something to do with rounding.
bhcastle
corporateSellout -
changing the decimals showing in cells A1, A2, and A3 will not change the answer. The calculation still will take into account the decimals even if they are not showing. If you want to make a calculation with hard coded decimals then do this: =ROUND(A1,2) - ROUND(A2,2) - ROUND(A3,2)
just sayin,
bhcastle
>...from what i understand is that you excell cannot preform more than on subtract at a time in excel 2003...
I don't know where that information came from but it is simply wrong. The files I have uploaded for this question are both from Excel 2002 and the formulae can be any which way and they will still give the correct result.
Do please look at the 3 results in the attached file.
Patrick
The answer is as I stated earlier. Cell A3 is probably a calculated value or an input of 49.995 so it shows up as 50, 50.0, or 50.00 depending on whether you show 0, 1, or 2 decimals. But it still makes the answer be 149,593.14. (the rounding could be on A1 or A2 as well but just for simplicity sake I'm ilustrating how you could come up with the .14 answer) I hope this information is actually helpful for your problem. If you want to see what you are dealing with, highlight column A and format the cells to 5 or 6 decimals and see what you really have.
regards,
bhcastle
I guess I didn't test as well as I thought I did, I entered the values exactly as patrickab did in a sheet and got the correct answer. My first test I was copying values from cells and so it must have grabbed the calculated value (as was already mentioned by someone above).
I just tested it using the Round function that was suggested and that fixed it. Thanks!
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by: CorporateSelloutPosted on 2008-12-17 at 11:05:42ID: 23196790
try changing the columsn to number and set the decimal place to the same value ie 2 for each. Since your using 2 decimal places in the equation in your cell you should then get the same answer