Large Number (16 digits)

[tomyrush]

I'm running win xp sp3 completely up to date and excel 2003.

I am trying to set up a spread sheet using credit card numbers which are 16 digits long. I set up a 16 digit number in the custom setup, but I cannot use it. The only way I can enter the 16 digit number without having the last digit either truncated or rounded to zero is to set up the numbers as "text" and I can enter them.

Is this the only way I can handle this?

Tom

[StuartR]

...Is this the only way I can handle this?

I think the only way to handle a 16 digit credit card number in Excel is to enter it as text. If you really need to do numerical calculations on the numbers you will have to break them into shorter parts, manipulate them separately and then combine the results.

[HansV]

Stuart is correct. Excel stores numbers with a maximum of 15 significant digits, so a 16 digit number cannot be represented accurately. You have to store the credit card numbers as text.

[tomyrush]

thanks - now I know

Tom