Excel won't allow times to be negative

[rob]

I keep track of times in "mm:ss.00" format, and i've set up a formula that
deducts week B's time from week A's time - in order to show improvement. If
the time decreases week to week excel outputs a positive to represent this. I
would like it to ouput a negative number to represent increases in time.

Problem is, excel won't allow times to be negative - if they are it fills
the cell with "#" symbols.

Does anyone have any solutions to this.

Thanks

[nastech]

not exactly sure, will this help:

=IF(x<0,-(calculation),calculation) (neg,pos)

"rob" wrote:

> I keep track of times in "mm:ss.00" format, and i've set up a formula that
> deducts week B's time from week A's time - in order to show improvement. If
> the time decreases week to week excel outputs a positive to represent this. I
> would like it to ouput a negative number to represent increases in time.
>
> Problem is, excel won't allow times to be negative - if they are it fills
> the cell with "#" symbols.
>
> Does anyone have any solutions to this.
>
> Thanks

[Ardus Petus]

Tools>Options>Calculation: 1904 calendar

HTH
--
AP

"rob" <rob@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:3B90B41B-F0B4-4D3C-A8E6-767F4351B787@microsoft.com...
> I keep track of times in "mm:ss.00" format, and i've set up a formula that
> deducts week B's time from week A's time - in order to show improvement.
If
> the time decreases week to week excel outputs a positive to represent
this. I
> would like it to ouput a negative number to represent increases in time.
>
> Problem is, excel won't allow times to be negative - if they are it fills
> the cell with "#" symbols.
>
> Does anyone have any solutions to this.
>
> Thanks

[Bob Phillips]

Changing to 1904 calendar affects many things and isn't always desirable.

How about doing something like

=IF(A1>B1,A1-B1,B1-A1)

and then in an adjacent cell add

=IF(B1>A1,"Decrease","")

or even use conditional formatting to show decreases.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from email address if mailing direct)

"Ardus Petus" <ardus.petus@laposte.net> wrote in message
news:O$1aileZGHA.1200@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Tools>Options>Calculation: 1904 calendar
>
> HTH
> --
> AP
>
> "rob" <rob@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message de
> news:3B90B41B-F0B4-4D3C-A8E6-767F4351B787@microsoft.com...
> > I keep track of times in "mm:ss.00" format, and i've set up a formula
that
> > deducts week B's time from week A's time - in order to show improvement.
> If
> > the time decreases week to week excel outputs a positive to represent
> this. I
> > would like it to ouput a negative number to represent increases in time.
> >
> > Problem is, excel won't allow times to be negative - if they are it
fills
> > the cell with "#" symbols.
> >
> > Does anyone have any solutions to this.
> >
> > Thanks
>
>