Forum Discussion
Excel not respecting order for operations
Hello everybody
I don't know how to manage this issue.
Excel seems not respecting the order of operations.
Sometimes (not always) he forgets the basics...
Example
if I type
+A10/1000/2
It corrects by itself the formula in
=+A10/500
Other example
I type
+A10^2/8
It corrects by itself the formula in
=+A10^0.25
What can I do??
thanks to all
2 Replies
The problem arises when the cell format is Currency or Accounting (or any Custom format that includes the currency symbol?) and the formula is entered with a leading plus ("+") instead of equal ("=").
Ironically, one workaround is to set the option "Transition formula entry". In Excel 2010, I click File > Options > Advanced and scroll down to Lotus Compatibility Settings to select the option.
But I do not recommend that workaround, because it is unclear (to me) what all of the side-effects are of selecting that option.
IMHO, the better alternative is simply to enter formulas by typing "=" as usual, instead of "+".
The alternative use of "+" for formula entry is useful only when entering formulas using the numeric keyboard. And of course, that is possible only for formulas that contain just numbers and simply arithmetic, AFAIK.
- My Excel does not change the formulas.
