Number Formatting

Number format changes what you see without changing the stored value Excel uses in formulas.

James Okonkwo applied Currency to B2:E6 on NorthgateBudget.xlsx. Governors saw £12,500.00 while =SUM(B2:E2) still calculated on 12500 — display and data type work together.

Budget amounts are numbers; department names are text. Formatting connects to that — Currency on numbers, General on labels.

Click B2 after typing 12500:

• Cell may show 12500 or £12,500.00 depending on format
• Formula bar shows 12500 (the number Excel stores)
• Data type remains number — SUM works

Formatting is not the same as data type — but choosing Text format before entry would change type (see Data Types lessons).

On Budgets, select B2:E6 (all quarterly amounts, not headers). On the Home tab, open the Number group. Click the $ or £ Currency button (your symbol depends on regional settings).

Expected result: Amounts show commas and two decimal places, e.g. £12,500.00. Click B2 — formula bar still shows 12500 without £.

Science Q4 in E4 (19000) displays as £19,000.00 with Currency. Conditional formatting later can highlight it — the underlying number is still 19000 for comparisons.

Percentage: Select I1 (0.05 contingency rate). Home → Number → % → displays 5%. The stored value is still 0.05 for **=F2*(1+$I$1)**.

Comma style: Home → Number → Comma adds thousands separators without forcing currency — useful for internal drafts.

Increase/decrease decimals: Buttons .00 → .0 beside the format list.

Do not apply Currency to column A (department names) — that is text, not amounts. You select A2:A6 and click Currency — Excel may show £English errors or odd displays.

A quarter amount is left-aligned (stored as text). You apply Currency — it still fails in =SUM(B2:E2). Convert to number first (Convert to Number from the error menu), then format.

General is Excel's default — shows integers without decimals when possible.

Currency always shows two decimals and a symbol — standard for governor-facing NorthgateBudget.xlsx printouts.

SUM still works: Formatting is a mask. =SUM(B2:E2) uses the real numbers underneath.