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Microsoft Excel fails simple math multiplication »

Posted by: JessicaLaurie 2 years, 2 months ago

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Try to multiply 77,1 and 850. The actual product is 65535, but Microsoft Excel 2007 displays 100000.

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Comments: 19

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hsaleem
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:09 a.m.
Is it a joke or what ;)
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tonks21
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:16 a.m.
proving once again that microsoft sucks!
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TechnologyExpert
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:49 a.m.
It was a display only issue (meaning, the actual cell contents were correct, but the display was wrong), and it's already been fixed. You can download the patch. Link in article here:
http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2007/10/ex...
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Dicax_Maximus
Oct. 24, 2007, 12:32 p.m.
Bit of a boo-boo......
Just as well I didn't do my last budget on Excel.....
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david_nwpa
Oct. 24, 2007, 1:20 p.m.
Sad mistake for MS Excel. Trouble is where one error can be found, others are sure to follow. Will be watching to see if any other errors erupt.
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cptnkrk
Oct. 24, 2007, 3:18 p.m.
It works fine on all mine. must be only in certain versions or something
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TheAttacks
Oct. 24, 2007, 5:38 p.m.
Don't have excel, but that seems like a pretty weird bug.
Hmm. . .
"I calculate we should have made $65,535, but Excel is telling me we made $100,000. . . welp, guess Excel knows best."
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ETproductions
Oct. 25, 2007, 2:14 a.m.
Excel fails at so many things. In my work as a Yahoo! Store developer, I have to constantly deal with CSV files for database uploads. Excel drops leading zeros from product ID numbers, reformats IDs that look like dates into dates and all sorts of nasty tricks. Most of the garbage it does can be corrected if you catch it, but what infuriates me is it never bothers to ASK if you want it to do this reformatting. It's like Microsoft, in their inimitable wisdom, just assumes they know better what the user wants to do than the user.
The product has been broken like this ever since Microsoft copied knocked VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 and then used their marketing power to supplant all other competitors. Once Redmond grabs the market on something, I guess all further development goes out the window and they set their engineers on copying something else they can then out-market.
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daddymike67
Oct. 25, 2007, 4:13 a.m.
I think I will just stay with my old iMac. LMAO...
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CaptainLucid
Oct. 25, 2007, 5:38 a.m.
Microsoft is a marketing company not a software company. They offer to buy or partnership in the same way a mugger says "your money or your life". They have an infinite source of income because they have a virtual monopoly with windows. If windows sold for $30, explorer sold for $30 and Netscape sold for $30 then they would get $30 for most computers sold and Netscape would get plenty of sales at $30 because no one with a brain would choose microscrew given a choice. The micro****** solution is now windows will cost $60 and give you exploder for free. Translation, you now bought microsoft exploder whether you wanted it or not and netscape has to offer its superior product for free to compete. Soon Sony will smack the crap out of microsoft again in the gaming market again because legit competition is kryptonite to microsoft.
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NicholasDonovan
Oct. 25, 2007, 10:09 a.m.
No problem in OpenOffice or Koffice or other open source products with that equation. There are no perfect software but the OpenSource process is more scientific as it leads to open peer review hence a better outcome.
I've used OpenOffice for years at a variety of technology companies I've either worked at or created and never had an issue with it.
OpenOffice is better from a regulatory compliance aspect as well as you don't have to worry that the data you're encoding in your spreadsheet or document won't be able to be accurately read 8 years from now as has been the case with some legacy Microsoft formats.
Now in medicine, I use OpenOffice Math A LOT and it's easy to compose anything from embedded formulas to one-button converting from a presentation to a Flash File for the medical school intranet.
Just some random thoughts....
Nick
[ Declarations: The author declares no conflicts of interest or association with any of the projects or products mentioned herein. ]
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umapran
Oct. 26, 2007, 4:42 p.m.
v.interesting indeed. Looks like we should go back to the good old mental arithmetic !