Incorrect Output of Formula

[lauriamoulton]

my spreadsheet has many formulas that depend on /and use the output of other formulas. The final result is wrong.

Cell E13 ='[mileage2011.xlsx]BGT Quarter Miles'!$C$11 (pulls the number from a cell on another workbook) "17719"
Cell F13 =E13/'BGT 1st Pg 1-2'!N37 (divides E13 by the miles per gallon(9.63), which is the result of another formula on another sheet within this workbook) "1840"
Cell G13 ='[mileage2011.xlsx]BGT Quarter Miles'!$C$13 (pulls the number from a cell on another workbook) "1812"
Cell H13 =F13-G13 (no explanation needed) "28"
Cell I13 = .1600 (tax rate)
Cell J13 =H13*I13 (no explanation needed, but the result is 4.43, when it should be 4.48.....

What am i doing wrong? Thanks

Lori

 

[Jonmo1]

A couple possible causes.

1. Formatting..
If you have all your cells formatted to show only say 2 decimals, but the number actually holds 8 decimals (or whatever), then the amount you see displayed is actually a rounded result. but the actual value is unchanged.
Suggest formatting ALL related cells to show 10 decimals or so, you may find your problem.

2. Floating point precision...
I don't know a whole lot about this issue, but it's well documented at Microsoft's website, search microsoft for "floating point precision"

If this is the issue, use the round function in your formulas like forF13, use
=ROUND(E13/'BGT 1st Pg 1-2'!N37,2)
That rounds the result to the nearest 2 decimals.


Hope that helps.

 

[lauriamoulton]

YOU ARE A GOD!!...*smiles*...thank you very much!

 

[Jonmo1]

No problem,

Just out of curiosity (and the sake of others watching), which problem was it, how did you resolve?