Dates are stored as 5 digit numbers.

from the immediate window:

? date
01/17/2006
? clng(date)
38734
? format(38734,"mmm dd, yyyy")
Jan 17, 2006
? format(38734,"mm/dd/yyyy")
01/17/2006

select any date in Excel and format the cell as General
(format=>Cells=>Number format, select general) and you will see a five digit
number unless it is an old date, then the digits may be fewer.

the five digit number represents the number of days since the base date.
For windows this is the beginning of 1900.

2.5 would 12 Noon on 2 Jan 1900

3.75 would be 3 Jan 1900 at 6:00 PM

If the number is an integer, time is not represented or it is midnight.

But Chip Pearson explains it all in much more detail:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/datetime.htm

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy


"johnfulkerson@s"
<johnfulkersons.21spjb_1137529202.6222@excelforum-nospam.com> wrote in
message news:johnfulkersons.21spjb_1137529202.6222@excelforum-nospam.com...
>
> I have spent 17 hours and read four excel reference books. No luck.
>
> The probelm...when I type in a date in a cell, a five digit number
> comes up. I look up at the top of the screen and I cannot find a
> formula anywhere. I try to delete it and nothing happens. The five
> digit number is in all of the cells in two rows. When I change the
> date, the five digit number appears to change. I am lost.
> johnfulkerson@sbcglobal.net.
>
>
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