Forum Discussion
Excel not respecting order for operations
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.