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Excel 2007 Multiplication Bug

Posted by kdawson on from the be-fruitful-and-all-that dept.

tibbar66 writes with 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."

4 of 806 comments (clear)

  1. Re:In OOXML? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I use Matlab and Octave constantly for things everyone around me uses Excel for (I do structural engineering). I am no amazing hacker or anything, but I simply find it scads easier to use that sort of paradigm over the spreadsheet analogy for almost any application. That aside, Excel in particular seems constantly to try to outthink me and consistently to have these sorts of strange calculation errors.

  2. Re:obviously malicious by Belacgod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

  3. Re:I can see the OOXML tag now... by ameline · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That profoundly unfunny post (but insightful) will probably get modded as funny.

    Lets wait and see :-)

    --
    Ian Ameline
  4. Re:Wow... by cyphercell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    CAD derivatives are quicker, less precise, like a blaster vs a light saber, only few use light sabers, many use blasters.

    --
    Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism