Division in Excel

  • Thread starter Thread starter rKaMaN
  • Start date Start date
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rKaMaN

I'm relatively new to excel and i've encountered a
problem that i'm unable to figure out.

I want to take 120.5 and divide by (2265+30400). The
answer I get on a calculator is 3.68896

When I use the formula below, I get .00368896.
=sum(120.5/(2265+30400))

Am I using the wrong formula, or have I overlooked a
setting in excel itself?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi
not sure what you have entered in your calculator but 0.00368896 is the
correct result.
Are you sure you haven't divided 120500 by (2265+30400)?
 
This number is part of a worksheet to determine settings
on military equipment. I dusted off my $2 calculator, and
in fact got the same number you mentioned. Perhaps the
problem is what setting i'm using in the scientific calc.
I believe it was DEG but i'm not certain. (again pretty
new to this stuff)

Regards,
Luis Ramirez
Grafenwoehr, Germany
 
Hey, I broke out my old $2 calculator, and got the same
answer you did. The question now is, what calc setting do
i use to get the same result on a scientific calc? (i
have a cheatsheet which takes me step by step throughout
the process.
 
Without decimals: If you divide 120 with something and get 3, then this
something must be a third of 120, which is 40. The stuff inside your
parentheses add up to lots more than that. So your initial result must be
wrong.

Did the first calculator by any chance say 3.68896 E something ? The E part
is essential.

HTH. Best wishes Harald
 
I'm relatively new to excel and i've encountered a
problem that i'm unable to figure out.

I want to take 120.5 and divide by (2265+30400). The
answer I get on a calculator is 3.68896

When I use the formula below, I get .00368896.
=sum(120.5/(2265+30400))

Am I using the wrong formula, or have I overlooked a
setting in excel itself?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You are probably not looking at the calculator correctly. There is probably
some indication on your calculator that the result should be multiplied by
10^-3. A less likely reason is that your calculator is just wrong by a factor
of 1000, but this is unlikely.

Clearly, if you divide 100 by a number greater than 100, the result has to be
less than one. So your interpretation of your calculator's answer as being 3+
makes no sense.

So far as excel is concerned, the SUM function is not needed in your equation.

=120.5/(2265+30400) would give the same, correct result


--ron
 
Yes it did.
-----Original Message-----
Without decimals: If you divide 120 with something and get 3, then this
something must be a third of 120, which is 40. The stuff inside your
parentheses add up to lots more than that. So your initial result must be
wrong.

Did the first calculator by any chance say 3.68896 E something ? The E part
is essential.

HTH. Best wishes Harald




.
Click to expand...
 
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