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Using the Format Cells Dialog Box 151
What you see is not always what you get
The number format that you assign to cells with numeric entries in the worksheet affects only the way they are displayed in their cells, and not their underlying values. For example, if a formula returns the value 3.456789 in a cell and you apply a number format that displays only two decimal places, Excel will display the value 3.46 in the
cell. If you then refer to the cell in a formula that multiplies its value by 2, Excel returns the result 6.913578 instead of the result 6.92, which would be the result if Excel was actually multiplying 3.46 by 2. If you want to modify the underlying value in a cell, you use the ROUND function. (See Book III, Chapter 5 for details.)
When you click the Number, Currency, Accounting, or Percentage category in the Category list box, more options appear in the area just to the right
of the Category list box in the form of different check boxes, list boxes,
and spinner buttons. (Figure 2-10 shows the Format Cells dialog box when Currency is selected in the Category list box.) These options determine how you want items such as decimal places, dollar signs, comma separators, and negative numbers to be used in the format category that you’ve chosen.
Figure 2-10:
Options for customizing the formatting assigned by the Currency number format.
When you choose the Date, Time, Fraction, Special, or Custom category, a large Type list box appears that contains handfuls of predefined category types, which you can apply to your value to change its appearance. Just like
Book II Chapter 2
Formatting Worksheets