For those who want more information on the topic, here are two places you can start your research: Thus, you end up with something like -9813.04000000003, which contain the full 15 digits of precision possible in Excel.Ī full discussion of how floating-point numbers are maintained in Excel and computers in general can very quickly get extremely technical. Instead, Excel provides an "approximate" result, out to 15 digits (the limits of its precision). When you throw a decimal point into the mix, then storing very large or very small numbers becomes more problematic-Excel just isn't able to store them with absolute precision. Whole numbers can be stored as binary values relatively easily. Computers must store numbers internally as binary values, not as the decimal values we see displayed on the screen.
The problem is ultimately related to how Excel works with floating-point numbers. What Fred is witnessing is an artifact of Excel's limitations. Fred expressed some confusion and concern about the results he received when subtracting certain numbers.
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