The Museum of HP Calculators

HP Forum Archive 17

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

for those that use excel
Message #1 Posted by hugh steers on 17 Oct 2007, 2:54 p.m.

try 850*77.1 or 12850*5.1

wrong answers whoops!

      
Re: for those that use excel
Message #2 Posted by Meenzer on 17 Oct 2007, 3:08 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by hugh steers

Excel yields 65535 as my calculator. I don't get the joke...
EDIT: Ok, that was the trusty 97. The newest Excel produces 100000. Now I get the joke ;-)

Edited: 17 Oct 2007, 3:12 p.m.

      
Re: for those that use excel
Message #3 Posted by Thomas Okken on 17 Oct 2007, 4:06 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by hugh steers

There was a brief discussion about this here, a few weeks ago, with some speculation as to whether this is a calculation bug or a display bug: http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv017.cgi?read=125330#125330

- Thomas

            
Re: for those that use excel
Message #4 Posted by hugh steers on 17 Oct 2007, 5:33 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by Thomas Okken

thanks for the link. i hadn't realised it had been covered before. looks like any multiplicand with a non-binary representable fraction multiplied to 65535 goes wrong. i think it's the display only tho'. so the number->string is broken.

      
Re: for those that use excel
Message #5 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 17 Oct 2007, 5:36 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by hugh steers

Excel 97 yields the correct result. Interesting.

thanks, bruce

            
As does MS Excel 2003.. (short MS rant)
Message #6 Posted by Karl Schneider on 17 Oct 2007, 11:07 p.m.,
in response to message #5 by Bruce Bergman

... which also displays the correct answer of 65535 (corrected per input from Pavneet)

My computer at work is equipped with MS XP Professional, MS Office 2003, and MS Internet Explorer v6. Now, based upon some of my own impressions of MS Internet Explorer v7 and MS Vista (which seem to be widely shared, if internet forums are any indication) -- and now this finding with MS Excel 2007, I don't want any "upgrades".

BTW, you may find it quite difficult to restore MS IE v6 after installing MS IE v7. Apparently, in order to make good on the claim that IE was an integral part of the OS during the browser-war litigation of a few years ago, MS really *did* interlock the code in some fashion.

I wonder if MS Excel 2007 can correctly calculate 100.00-99.99-0.01? The older versions couldn't...

Anyway, I prefer HP calculators and programs over spreadsheet software for calculations using small amounts of input data.

-- KS

Edited: 18 Oct 2007, 11:20 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

                  
Re: As does MS Excel 2003.. (short MS rant)
Message #7 Posted by Pavneet Arora on 18 Oct 2007, 8:08 a.m.,
in response to message #6 by Karl Schneider

Just for the record, OpenOffice 2.3, which I use, returns 65,535 for both operations...

But no spreadsheet is as satisfying to use as my trusty HPs. Well maybe Lotus Improv on a NeXT, but that is a whole other history ;).

Cheers.

Karl, if you read this can you pop me an e-mail at <my first name> <underscore> <my last name> at waroc.com? Many thanks.

Edited: 18 Oct 2007, 8:14 a.m.

                  
Re: As does MS Excel 2003.. (short MS rant)
Message #8 Posted by Thomas Okken on 18 Oct 2007, 10:55 a.m.,
in response to message #6 by Karl Schneider

Quote:
I wonder if MS Excel 2007 can correctly calculate 100.00-99.99-0.01? The older versions couldn't...

For what it's worth, OpenOffice 2.2 gets the right answer.


[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall