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Is there an error in Excel regarding dates?

Please do not ask how I came across this, but try the following:

  • Type “60” into the cell in Excel.
  • Set data type to date format
  • The date displayed (at least in my case) is February 29, 1900.

However, February 29, 1900 never happened since 1900 there was no leap year (see Wikipedia ).

Is this a mistake or am I missing something?

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3 answers

No, this is not an error in Excel, and yes, you missed something.

Excel implemented dates corresponding to Lotus 1-2-3, for which compatibility was required at that time, so this error was developed. Lotus 1-2-3 was a thinking mistake 1900 was a leap year.

See Microsoft documentation for reasons why this is not fixed.

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It's not a mistake. Excel takes February 29, 1900 as a valid date. This is a historical question.

Your 60 is considered the "number of days since January 1, 1900."

Additional Information:

http://polymathprogrammer.com/2009/10/26/the-leap-year-1900-bug-in-excel/

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You are welcome. This is mistake. It has never been documented in the original Excel specifications for Windows. The original Excel, which was on the Mac a few years before it was on any Windows platform, used a 1904-based date system. Original Excel authors have recognized this issue.

“Strictly speaking, this is not a problem with Excel 1.0, which only worked on Macs. The original Mac (and Excel) supported dates from 1904, in part, to avoid the problem with 1900s, not being a leap year. Only when Excel was ported to Windows (Excel 2.0) that the 1900 date system was introduced, so you cannot blame either of us for the Excel 1.0 team to make a decision (and therefore we would "Comment on this in an interview"). https: //www.geekwire.com/2015/recalc-or-die-30-years-later-microsoft-excel-1-0-vets-recount-a-project-that-defied-the-odds/

The error was also on MS-BASIC and Multiplan.

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