Please help. I want to use a date formula to find the difference between 2 dates. I know the formula but, when I apply it to a worksheet, a number appears '37924'Until a date is placed in the 2nd colume. This throws off my numbers in a Master Tracking sheet I have. Is there a way to apply this and lose the "37924" that keeps comming up? I.E. ertw rtw/ld rtw/fd days saved. 10/16/03 formula=b2+b3-b1 Thank you in advance!

I dont understand your formula. It appaear to be adding two values and subtracting a third. To find the difference between two dates it is just date1 - date2. The difference will be the number of days. You can then apply various formlas to convert to months, weeks or years. It should be remembered that date are stored internally as a floating point number. The part before the decimal point is the number of days since 31 Dec 1899 or something thereabouts. The part after the decimal nymber is the number of seconds since midnight. So date maipulation is no different than any other type of number. The only difference is in the formating. The Excel Help files contain loads of information on manipulating dates. Stuart

ertw= estimated return to work. This colume will most always have a date to start a case. ertw/ld= estimated return to work light duty. This colume may not get a date, or, will be awhile( weeks ) before it does. ertw/fd=estimated return to work full duty. This colume may not get a date, or, will be awhile( weeks ) before it does. Days saved= ertw/ld or ertw/fd minus the ertw. What I amtrying to do is create a date formula so that the days saved autocalulates when a date is inserted in the ertw/ld or ertw/fd. But, when I put my formula in the days saved colume, the date serial number appears, throwing off the actual total. I just wanted to know if there was a way to format somehow so that the date serial does not appear. Thank you in advance.

Mark I know what you mean. I tried it with: A1 ertw/ld Cell set as Date xx/xx/xx B1 ertw/fd Cell set as Date xx/xx/xx C1 ertw Cell set as Date xx/xx/xx D1 days saved ld Cell set as Number with 0 decimal places E1 days saved fd Cell set as Number with 0 decimal places When dates were put in the cells it showed a negative number in the days saved columns. But if a cell was empty is showed the date serial number, which starts from 01 January 1900, at the behest of Microsoft. A simple way is to leave the cells empty until you have al the information, or copy the date from the ertw cell so days saved cell shows zero until a new date is entered. Or, you can narrow the column width until three asterisks are visible instead of the date serial number. That will give you ability to show days up to three characters or, you can use the IF function to display zero or something else in certain circumstances.

hoi polloi Thank you for your reply. How can I use the "IF" function on this problem? Please reply. Thank you in advance. I would like to set an argument where any value < 0 is not counted. Thanks you again in advance.