Excel lapsed days

[doug]

Sure this has been asked, and answered , before. Am making entries into an Excel spreadsheet, staring with the date in it's own column. How can I subtract 2 date entries to get the lapsed number of days? Used to be a doddle in 123!

[doug]

Got a work around. Copied the dates to a fresh column the converted that to number format. Was then able to progressively subtract each entry from the preceding one and got what I wanted. Is this the most elegant method?

[Zfactor]

Now, I do not quite understand what you are talking about, but it sounded like you wanted to start at a given date, and then subtract two days from that and then two days from the preceeding. Like so:

12-05-2004

12-03-2003

12-01-2003

If that is correct, there is a very easy way to do so. First, enter the date you want to start with in the first cell. Then, enter the next date (The date format will do) in the cell below that, Like so:

12-05-2004

12-03-2003

Now, very simply, highlight both cells. There will be a thick black outline, click on the lower right corner (the black box) and then drag it downward. If done correctly, Excel will automatically subtract two dates from the previous date all the way to the end of the size you dragged the box. Here is a picture of what I mean:

Hope this is what you were asking, if not... then I guess I wasted a few mins :D

[doug]

No. I've been going over my water meter statements. I entered the dates the meter was read and the readings. I was able to get the amount consumed for each ~quarter so for comparison I wanted to know the number of days in each period - they varied considerably. As I said in my second post I got what I wanted but was the method I used the simplest?

In the event there is a problem with the supply and the water people are coming to check this week.