# MS Excel will not subtract?



## LiamDog (Aug 12, 2009)

Hi,

I have a Pc specific problem with any version of Office excel.
When I create a formula of =SUM(a1-a2) it will add them together rather than subtract??
If I change the formula to =(A1-A2) I get #VALUE! 
If I use a formula using /,*,+ they work?
I just cannot perform a basic subtraction using excel, any ideas?

Liam


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## drewkeller (Aug 1, 2009)

The proper syntax for the SUM command is SUM(number, number, number, ...)
in other words, use commas between operators. If you want to subtract, do it like this (add A1 and the negative value of A2): 
=SUM(A1,-A2)

I don't see anything wrong with your formula =(A1-A2). But if the contents of any of the cells you are referencing in that formula can't be converted to a number, you'll get the #VALUE result.

Here are some other things to try
=(3-2)
=-2

What if you open a spreadsheet made by someone else that has subtraction formulas in it?


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## LiamDog (Aug 12, 2009)

Thanks for the reply.
I did resolve this yesterday but not in a manner I liked. I had to create a new user profile on the pc and excel behaved fine under the new profile?? So wether there is a registy problem on the previous problem I don't know but I did find it odd how a subtact formula was adding?
But again thanks for the reply.


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