Calculate the sum of numbers in column G of MS Excel sheet

Question

When I calculate the sum of numbers in the column G of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet by using the formula =SUM(G1,G31) ,column G32 prints the date (0-Jan-00). Is there any way in which the sum of numbers in the column G can be calculated?

I am using MS excel 2003 SP3.

Answer 1

Hmm. Interesting.

A couple of random ideas (to try on a copy of your work book)...

1) Make sure there is no conditional formatting in effect for cell G32

2) Try cutting an adjacent cell that does work onto cell G32, then fix the formula so it calculates for column G.

3) Delete column G, then insert a new column and recreate the data and calculation

4) It is possible the workbook is corrupted;

• Open Excel (without opening you workbook)
• Use FILE / OPEN, and navigate to the your workbook. Click Once on he workbook.
• Click on the Down Arrow that is on the OPEN button, and select OPEN AND REPAIR

Answer 2

The format of cell G32 must be set to date.

Change it to General. That is, numbers.

Answer 3

You probably have the cell's formatting set to date format. Changing it to General should fix the problem:

For future reference there is a much easier way to sum values than writing your own formulas.

• Highlight all of the cells you want to sum
• Click the AutoSum icon in the toolbar that looks like this:

• The sum should be placed in the cell immediately below the last value in the sum (G32 for you)

Answer 4

It's been a while since I used excel, but from what I recall, if you're trying to sum the values in the cells between G1 and G31, you want =SUM(G1:G31) (colon, rather than comma)

Answer 5

Chance is that one of the fields in the row you want to calculate is set to date.