“… news of a serious multiplication bug in Excel 2007, which has been reported to the company. The example that first came to light is =850*77.1 — which gives a result of 100,000 instead of the correct 65,535. It seems that any formula that should evaluate to 65,535 will act strangely. One poster in the forum noted these behaviors: “Suppose the formula is in A1. =A1+1 returns 100,001, which appears to show the formula is in fact 100,000… =A1*2 returns 131,070, as if A1 had 65,535 (which it should have been). =A1*1 keeps it at 100,000. =A1-1 returns 65,534. =A1/1 is still 100,000. =A1/2 returns 32767.5.””Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
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Send Excel 07 back for remedial math classes
It looks like the new Excel 2007 has some problems (apart from it’s ribbon fetish). It looks like the number 65,535 causes some interesting behaviour, and it’s maths skills take a turn for the bizarre. Excel has had a history of troubles around that spot, including it’s belief that no spreadsheet should ever have more than 65,536 rows. Read more examples of this issue by following the link on Slashdot.