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LotsToLearn
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Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 10
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 Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:20 am Post subject: SOLVED: Getting wrong results with Formula =A2/A1 |
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[I've changed the title since I've determined that my suspicions about what is causing the error have proved irrelevant. But I'm still having the problem.]
I had a chart with columns of data and then another column that calculated the percentage:
3
2 66%
1 50%
The file is saved in .xls format. I used the file all year and it worked fine every time. I recently sent it to a colleague and when she sent it back to me with updated numbers, the percentages were all wrong, even though the formula and formatting is correct.
27
5 33% (should be 18.5%)
3 0% (should be 60%)
On her computer, the same file shows the correct percentages.
The only thing that I can think of is that her computer might have been using a different date method, but a) not sure how that would affect percentages, and b) I changed the date method in my preferences with no change in resulting percentages.
Very odd.
Any suggestions?
-JH
Last edited by LotsToLearn on Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:42 am; edited 2 times in total |
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LotsToLearn
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Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:48 am Post subject: |
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To be clearer, the formulas used are:
=A2/A1
=A3/A2
Formatting is set to Percent.
Interestingly, if in cell B3, I type the formula "=3/5" it kicks out 60% correctly. So, for whatever reason, it's not reading the values in cells A2 and A3 as 5 and 3 respectively. I checked the formatting on those cells and it's set to Number - General. I retyped the numbers 5 and 3 to make sure there was nothing funny in the data entry.
I'm very confused. |
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ken johnson
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Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Posts: 1851
Location: Sydney, Australia
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| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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Is AutoCalculate on or off? To check go Tools|Cell Contents...
AutoCalculate should be ticked.
Ken Johnson
_________________
If your problem has been solved please add "[Solved]" to the beginning of your first post title (edit button). |
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LotsToLearn
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Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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| AutoCalculate is checked. |
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LotsToLearn
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Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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More info.
So, I opened a new file. I put 5 in cell A1 and 3 in cell A2.
In cell B1, I entered =A1 and it resulted in 10.
In cell B2, I entered =A2 and it returned 0.
So, clearly I've changed something such that it's reading the cell value very bizarrely (maybe rounding to the nearest 10). How the hell did I start doing that? |
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ken johnson
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Joined: 23 Apr 2009
Posts: 1851
Location: Sydney, Australia
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LotsToLearn
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Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:42 am Post subject: |
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So that worked.
Followed the steps in the provided link and the formulas are still not working correctly in the old file but if I create a new file, the formulas work correctly.
I'm assuming that the old file is somehow still connected to the old user.
I'll delete the user.old folder and see if that resolves all my problems. Regardless, this seems to be fixed for moving forward.
Thanks for your help. |
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