Excel does that, largely: cells have a datatype, a value, and a format (among other properties). Changing the format leaves the value unchanged. However, when

Excel does that, largely: cells have a datatype, a value, and a format (among other properties). Changing the format leaves the value unchanged. However, when you input something into a cell, Excel has to parse it and decide what value and datatype to assign to it. That is just inevitable, and the same everywhere: in Python, `x = 3` assigns an integer, `x = 3.` a floating point, and `x='3'` a string. Similarly hints (or explicit specifications of type) are possible in Excel. However, given that, what you typed originally is not recoverable anywhere (Python doesn't record whether you wrote `x=3.` or `x = 3.00`, why should it?). So, to the extent that it is reasonable, Excel does what you request, and to the extent it doesn't do it, it's not reasonable, I'd say: A cell need not maintain the original pre-parsing input.