Multiplication bug in Excel 2007
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Loading ...October 3, 2007 by mike
What do you get if you multiply 850 by 77.1? According to Excel, it’s 100000.
It’s not the only sum Excel gets wrong, there are also fails on:
- =5.1*12850
- =10.2*6425
- =20.4*3212.5
- =40.8*1606.25
- =77.1*850
and more!
A poster on Google Groups has identified the major bug in Excel 2007, which is caused whenever the multiplication answer is 65535. For some unknown reason, Microsoft Excel displays 100000 in place of the correct answer. As 65535 is the highest number which can be represented by an unsigned 16 bit binary number, I wonder if this bug also occurs in Vista x64 or XP x64.
Any calculations on the .value property of the cell will use the correct value. So, it’s just a rendering issue then?
Maybe! Microsoft are investigating. I bet we won’t be waiting long for a product update.
Comments, please!
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Do you think this is a joke from some abused Microsoft Excel employee??
Anyway, for those of you who are trying to learn Excel in the first place, check out my site at http://www.learntouse.org for lessons from a real teacher lol
Lynne,
I think it’s very unlikely due to the code peer-review processes Microsoft (and us!) put in place. It would take a disgruntled team to put out something like this on purpose
I am pleased to report that this bug is now fixed in the Office Service Pack 1 (available from: http://update.microsft.com), and strongly recommend this release for everyone who uses Excel.
I also liked your site. Your videos are well explained. Your site could benefit from a static front page with links to each of your helpful video posts. One thing I’ve noticed since starting to blog is that previous posts tend to get a little “lost” from new visitors to the main page. Hope this helps.
Thanks for visiting, please consider bookmarking this blog and coming back again
Mike