Erroneous result when subtracting dates

Hi,

I'm trying to find the # of days between 2 dates that are in separate, formatted as dates. I'm using a simple formula =([Start date]28 - [Finish date]23, )

The result seems fine when displayed with no decimals, - but if the decimals are shown, the results are wrong.

If the dates in the two cells are the same, the result is -0.375 If the dates are 1 day apart the result is 0.626

Can anyone explain this and suggest a better formula.

thanks

Tim

Find more posts tagged with

Accepted answers

Tim Dowden

Thank you for your suggestion Andree,

I can implement your suggested work around, but the inability to correctly calculate a simple operation is surprising. 😒

thanks again for your help

Tim

All comments

Andrée Starå

Hi @Tim Dowden

I hope you're well and safe!

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@workbold.com)

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Tim Dowden

thanks for your prompt reply Andree, I just shared the sheet with you - I high lighted 2 cells red that return a -0.375 after subtracting 2 cells with the same date - I suspect this may be related to the project settings - Currently set to an 8 hour day but if I change to 24 hour day, the formula returns a -1

Appreciate your help

Tim

Andrée Starå

@Tim Dowden

Happy to help!

I'll take a look and get back to you!

Tim Dowden

thank you Andee, I appreciate your help

Andrée Starå

@Tim Dowden

Yes, you're correct!

It's the project settings that affect it, and I know that I've seen a post about it here in the Community, but I can't find it now.

As a possible workaround, you could add two so-called helper columns (date) that reference the original, and then the calculation will be "normal".

Make sense?

Would that work/help?

✅Remember! Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Tim Dowden

Thank you for your suggestion Andree,

I can implement your suggested work around, but the inability to correctly calculate a simple operation is surprising. 😒

thanks again for your help

Tim

Andrée Starå

@Tim Dowden

Excellent!

You're more than welcome!

It's calculating correctly because of the Dependencies.

Sign in to join the conversation!

Quick Links

Component react.discussion.discussions had an error.

ref must be one of: categoryID, siteSectionID, category, category/categoryID, category/name, category/description, category/url, category/allowedDiscussionTypes, locale, siteSection, siteSection/basePath, siteSection/contentLocale, siteSection/sectionGroup, siteSection/sectionID, siteSection/name, siteSection/description, siteSection/apps, siteSection/attributes, layoutViewType, discussionID, commentID, page, latest, sort, sortType, lookupSort, discussion, discussion/name, tags, breadcrumbs, discussionApiParams, serverDraftID, serverDraft.