formula error

[Zaberz]

I'm trying to learn excel but I've run into a big issue. When I write a relatively simple formula excel gives me an error message. As a refrence, I wrote this and it gave the same error message: =DATE(A$3,1,1) 
How can I fix this?

[#2]

What is in cell A$3?

[#3]

@Zaberz This is most likely caused by your Regional and Language settings (decimal symbol is set to a comma instead of a period). Try using semi-colons instead of commas as your argument separators. For example: =DATE(A$3;1;1)

[#4]

In that cell I just put a date, 01-01-2024

[#5]

I don't get the error pop up but the cell displays a Number error now

[#6 · Accepted solution]

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@Zaberz wrote:
In that cell (A3) I just put a date, 01-01-2024
I don't get the error pop up but the cell displays a Number error now

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So, we've solved the first problem, but now have another one. You definitely need to be using semi-colons instead of commas as the argument separator when writing formulas. =DATE(A$3;1;1) is now working properly; however, the #NUM! error is returned because the first argument is expecting a year from 0 to 9999, but you've used a date in cell A3.

The generic syntax for the DATE function is:

=DATE(year; month; day)

You can input static values for each argument. For example:

=DATE(2024; 1; 1)

Or you can use cell references for one or more arguments. For example, if A3 contained the year 2024:

=DATE(A3; 1; 1)

However, since A3 contains the date 01/01/2024 in your example, you would need to use the YEAR function to extract the year from that date:

=DATE(YEAR(A3); 1; 1)

Please note, Excel treats actual dates as sequential, numeric values from 1 (01/01/1900) to 2958465 (12/31/9999). The #NUM! error was returned because Excel reads 01/01/2024 as 45292, which exceeds the maximum value accepted for the year argument of the DATE function (9999).

[#7]

@Zaberz 

I'm trying to learn excel but ...

What resources are you using to help you in this learning process? There are a number of good books on the market. Also loads of YouTube links.

I'd also recommend Exceljet.net , accessible through that link. It gives lots of great examples of how to use each function. Here, for example, is the guidance on the DATE function.