Value what does this mean in excel

For example, if you try to calculate the square root of a negative number, you'll see the NUM! The examples below show formulas that return the NUM error. How to fix the NULL! The NULL! Technically, the space character is the "range intersect" operator and the How to fix the hashtag error. The "hashtag" error, a string of hash or pound characters like is not technically an error, but it looks like one.

In most cases, it indicates the column width is too narrow to display the value as formatted. You might run into this odd The rectangle that encloses the values is called the " spill range " How to fix the CALC! With the introduction of Dynamic Arrays in Excel , formulas there is more emphasis on arrays. The CALC! Related functions. TYPE Function. Because the error looks like the built-in hash errors from Excel, people might pay attention to it.

You can also show a custom hash error with conditional formatting. In this example, there is a conditional formatting rule on the Total cell B8 , to check if the total is greater than the budget limit D2. Download the zipped Excel Formula Errors file. The zipped file is in xlsx format, and does not contain any macros. These resources can help you troubleshoot Excel errors, and help prevent errors from appearing in your workbook.

Charles Williams is an Excel calculation expert, and his FastExcel add-in can help you find calculation bottlenecks in your workbook, and understand and debug complex formulas more easily.

Learn about its troubleshooting tools and features , to see how it can help you. Don't waste time looking for errors after your Excel file is completed. Check for errors from the beginning. In his online course, Ken Puls shows how to build an error checking system in your workbooks. See how to create an error checking section on each worksheet, and a global check point for the entire workbook. To make the example more illustrative, I've sorted the numbers in column C in ascending order though it is not actually required for the Excel Median formula to work :.

In contrast to average, Microsoft Excel does not provide any special function to calculate median with one or more conditions. Mode is the most frequently occurring value in the dataset.

While the mean and median require some calculations, a mode value can be found simply by counting the number of times each value occurs. For our sample data set, the formula goes as follows:. In situations when there are two or more modes in your data set, the Excel MODE function will return the lowest mode.

Generally, there is no "best" measure of central tendency. Which measure to use mostly depends on the type of data you are working with as well as your understanding of the "typical value" you are attempting to estimate.

For a symmetrical distribution in which values occur at regular frequencies , the mean, median and mode are the same. Type two values in two separate cells. In a third cell, subtract one cell reference from the other.

In this example, cell D2 has the budgeted amount, and cell E2 has the actual amount. Type a positive value in one cell, and a negative value in another. In a third cell, use the SUM function to add the two cells together.

In this example, cell D6 has the budgeted amount, and cell E6 has the actual amount as a negative number. The following might solve your problem:.

First do a quick test. In a new workbook, type a 2 in cell A1. Type a 4 in cell B1. If you don't get the error, try other solutions on this page. Windows Click Start , type Region , and then click the Region control panel. Windows 7: Click Start and then type Region , and then click Region and language. Look for the List separator.

If the List separator is set to the minus sign, change it to something else. For example, a comma is a common list separator. The semicolon is also common.

However, another list separator might be more appropriate for your particular region. If there are commas where there should be minus signs for subtraction, change them to minus signs. Type two dates in two separate cells. In this example, cell D10 has the start date, and cell E10 has the End date. Make your date column wider. If your date is aligned to the right, then it's a date. But if it's aligned to the left, this means the date isn't really a date.

It's text. And Excel won't recognize text as a date. Here are some solutions that can help this problem. Put your cursor at the beginning and see if you can select one or more spaces. Here's what a selected space looks like at the beginning of a cell:. If your cell has this problem, proceed to the next step. If you don't see one or more spaces, go to the next section on checking your computer's date settings.

On Step 3 of 3 of the wizard, under Column data format , click Date. Excel uses your computer's date system. If a cell's date isn't entered using the same date system, then Excel won't recognize it as a true date. If you typed a date like that in a cell, Excel would recognize it as a date and you'd be able to use it in a subtraction formula.