Once entered as text, you cannot use the fraction in any calculations. The only way to have Excel remember exactly what you entered is to enter the fraction as text (format the cell as Text before making your entry), but there is a drawback to this. Change the contents of the Type box to "# ?/28" (again without the quotes).Īgain, remember that this only changes the display of the values in Excel, not the actual values themselves-they are still decimal values.The Type box should contain the characters "# ?/?" (without the quotes). The Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box. Make sure the Number tab is displayed.Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box. For instance, if you wanted the cell into which you entered 18/28 to display the fraction with 28 as the denominator, then you could follow these steps: You can, however, change the format used by Excel to display the value in a particular cell. After all, Excel doesn't store fractions, it stores decimal values. Thus, this is what Excel displays in the cell-9/14 instead of 18/28.īecause of the parsing process that Excel follows, there is no way that you can force Excel to remember your fractions exactly as you entered them. The smallest fraction it can do this with is 9/14. Remember-the value in the cell is now 0.642857142857143, and to redisplay the value, Excel sees that it is supposed to use a fraction of up to two digits. With the parsing done, and the new value entered, Excel recalculates and redisplays values. At this point, the fraction no longer exists the number is a decimal value.Īfter you enter any value into Excel, it automatically recalculates your worksheet. In other words, Excel stores the number internally as 0.642857142857143, which is what you get when you divide 18 by 28. The second thing that happens is that Excel converts the number into its decimal equivalent. (See the Number tab of the Format Cells dialog box.) In the case of the fraction 18/28, there are two digits in the denominator, so the cell is automatically formatted as a fraction of up to two digits. First, it formats the cell as a fraction, based on the number of digits in the denominator of the fraction. When you enter your fraction, Excel does two things during the parsing process. (If you just enter 18/28, then Excel assumes you are entering either a date or text.) Thus, if you wanted to enter a fraction such as 18/28, you would enter 0 18/28 into the cell. Excel allows you to enter fractions into cells, provided you preface the entry with a zero and a space.
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