excel phantom numbers

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G

Guest

I have two colums , debit and credits , which have in positive, negative and
zeros. I copy one column to the bottom of the other. The sum is zero (no
individual numner is more than 2 decimal places). I sorted the column and
deleted the zero values ( zero values all added to zero). When I add the
remaining numbers the result is 1.6 -e07. Numbers have appearded in the
total that do not make sence
 
Looks like you have your number format set to Scientific. Format > Cell and
change to appropriate number format.
 
Hello:

It is not at all unusual and the problem is as old as computing. I've
never actually counted, but this issue it may win the most asked question,
if not certainly it is among the top 10.

There are many decimal numbers for which there is no binary
equivalent and therefore must be approximated. Numbers that look like
zero frequently are not exactly zero. For an explanation see:

http://cpearson.com/excel/rounding.htm


Pieter Vandenberg

: I have two colums , debit and credits , which have in positive, negative and
: zeros. I copy one column to the bottom of the other. The sum is zero (no
: individual numner is more than 2 decimal places). I sorted the column and
: deleted the zero values ( zero values all added to zero). When I add the
: remaining numbers the result is 1.6 -e07. Numbers have appearded in the
: total that do not make sence
 
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