Why do some people use Plus Sign at beginning of formulas?

[Captain Smith]

I have noticed that a handful of people at work enter a formula as =+A1+A2 instead of the way I would enter it =A1+A2

What is the origin of the extra plus sign at the beginning? To me it seems to be unproductive and is simply not needed. I have been using Excel for over 12 years and have never needed to enter any formulas like that. Does this originate back to a much older version of Excel where it was once needed?

Just curious.
Thanks.

 

[chi05]

Thanks guys for the explanation. I came here because of this also

 

[DataAnalyst]

I also came just now with this same question.

Yesterday my colleague was struggling with a formula and today they sent me that workbook and the formulas have =+, something I hadn't seen before.

I doubt if my colleague is a former Lotus user - but it's possible this workbook has been around that long!

Also a nice diversion from the analytical routine, being here

Happy Wednesday! Two more days...

 

[Kamolga]

Hi

Why do I start some of my formulas with a "+"? It's quicker, easier (I can think of another reason: laziness).
In some non-English keyboards the "=" sign requires you to press Shift, while the "+" sign does not.
For a quick calculation it's just quicker to start with the "+", for which you just have to press 1 key (to press 2 keys would be such a lot of work! ).
Never underestimate the power of laziness!

Most of the time I use + instead of =. Reason is that on my (azerty) Belgian(?)/European(?) keyboard, I need to use shift to access the numbers, so I leave the cap lock on and so the + comes most of the time. For me typing "=" is like typing www before an email adress...I used to do it until I found ou it was unnecessary.

 

[stuckinOH]

I have a very interesting issue that, imho, is related to this topic. I am trying to do some simple math in a cell in a spreadsheet that someone else created. Sine the equation is all numbers, no cells, I started the equation with the + (I do this when I am using the number pad).

The equation is +360/60/10/12/25.4*17. Answer should be .0334..., but it comes back as 4.8189. If I start the equation with = it comes back as .0334. If I change the order slightly to be +360/60/12/10/25.4*17 I get 3.34.

I can also add that when I get done and go to that cell, the "equation" is not as I typed it. for the equation +360/60/10/12/25.4*17 it shows it as =6/0.833333333/25.4*17. Excel for some reason is doing math in pairs- it takes 360/6 and makes it 6; 10/12 and makes it .8333333. This explains why if I put 12/10 it gives a different number since that math returns 1.2.

When I do this same equation in another worksheet or new worksheet this issue does not occur.

Does this make sense to anyone??? It does not make sense to the originator of this worksheet, but I am guessing it has to do with something that was done with formatting when this was put together.

Hopefully someone can shed light on this, there may be other weird things going on in this spreadsheet that I am not aware of yet.

 

[RoryA]

Which version of Excel is it, and do you have any of the Lotus compatibility options checked in the Advanced section of Options for that sheet?

 

[stuckinOH]

Which version of Excel is it, and do you have any of the Lotus compatibility options checked in the Advanced section of Options for that sheet?

I am using 2010, no compatibility options are checked. I did a little more "troubleshooting" and I can add this issue does not happen across the entire workbook, nor is it an issue everywhere within the entire sheet. So far I have only found it to happen in ~ 36 cells (6 x 6 area within 1 of the tables. This sheet is populated A1:P21 to give you an idea of the size. Problem is found in G5:J11 so far. It has to be some funky formatting related to these cells.

I probably can do some copy/paste/etc to get rid of the problem, but would really like to understand what is going on here.

 

[RoryA]

Any code in the workbook?

 

[stuckinOH]

No.

 

[RoryA]

Can you remove any sensitive data and post the file somewhere for review? I'd be interested to dig into it.

 

[joeu2004]

The equation is +360/60/10/12/25.4*17. Answer should be .0334..., but it comes back as 4.8189. [....] for the equation +360/60/10/12/25.4*17 it shows it as =6/0.833333333/25.4*17.

This defect (design flaw) is affected by the cell format. I never identified exactly how. But the Accounting format is one example.

Ironically, one work-around is to set(!) the Lotus Compatibility Transition Formula Evaluation option in Advanced Options.

But I do not recommend that because there are side-effects that might not be desirable. IIRC, it changes some operator precedence.

If you search this forum and others, I believe that people have suggested other work-arounds. I don't know if they are compatible with numeric keypad usage.

PS.... If your numeric keypad has parentheses keys, you could change that particular example to +360/(60*10*12*25.4)*17. And for clarity, I would write =17*360/... .