Forum Discussion

5 Replies

  • ShortcutShari's avatar
    ShortcutShari
    Brass Contributor

    Good evening! I LOVE this function and use it all the time. I did a video on it on my YouTube channel if you think it would be helpful to you! Excel calls them "Serial Numbers" because every day since January 1, 1900 has been assigned a sequential number (I call it the "Star Date". If you watch Star Trek, you will understand!) Here is the link to my video. Now I want to do one explaining the "Star Date"!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxravz6aCnE

  • Lorenzo's avatar
    Lorenzo
    Silver Contributor

    You don't anything wrong. Format the cell where you enter =EOMONTH(J4, 1) as Date

    • mathetes's avatar
      mathetes
      Gold Contributor

      Lomburus​ : you may be wondering why Lorenzo​ can state with such absolute certainty that you didn't do anything wrong. What he didn't explain is how dates work in Excel. Here's an excerpt from Exceljet.net, a helpful website for understanding many aspects of Excel.

      "In Excel's date system, dates are serial numbers beginning on January 1, 1900. January 1, 1900 is 1, January 2, 1900 is 2, and so on. More recent dates are much larger numbers. For example, January 1, 1999 is 36161, and January 1, 2010 is 40179."

      It's this underlying feature that makes date math possible, which is the why behind the way Excel stores dates.