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You can generally count on built-in formulas to be correct, which might have to be recreated in a different language;* At one point, at least, this wasn't true

by enjo 14y ago

You can generally count on built-in formulas to be correct, which might have to be recreated in a different language;* At one point, at least, this wasn't true. At Quickoffice we ran into all sorts of problems implementing functions as our results didn't match what Excel would display. It was fascinating. Ours were mathematically correct, but "Excel correct" is what our users wanted. Most of the errors where inherited from very early versions of Excel. Instead of fixing the formula, they would just replicate the bug to keep everything consistent. I'm straining to remember the specific examples (there were many), but it's been quite a few years since I was around that stuff.

brodney 14y ago
Those stories always make for a good read. I'm interested in examples if you can think of any.
pseut 14y ago
Some examples here for Excel 2007: http://blog.meteorit.co.uk/2007/10/02/excel-2007-bug-shows-wrong-answers-to-simple-multiplications/ http://blog.meteorit.co.uk/2007/10/02/excel-2007-bug-shows-w... one example from the post: 425 * 154.2 was displayed as 100,000 and treated as 100000 for some calculations but not others. I remember older versions of Excel having similar (but not exactly the same) problems in basic mathematical operations too, but can't remember exactly what they were.