Plus sign before a formula

[ice_breaker]

I have seen an excel formula like this "=+Link!c9". Anybody tells me what plus sign(+) means? Thanks

 

[Brianwarnock]

My best guess is that it is an incorrectly entered or edited formula, perhaps there was something before the + sign that has been removed. the resultis the same with or without the + sign as far as I know.
A - sign is different =-Link!c9 would effectively multiply Link!c9 by -1 in the new cell.

Brian

 

[MSAccessRookie]

I have seen an excel formula like this "=+Link!c9". Anybody tells me what plus sign(+) means? Thanks

My best guess is that it is an incorrectly entered or edited formula, perhaps there was something before the + sign that has been removed. the resultis the same with or without the + sign as far as I know.
A - sign is different =-Link!c9 would effectively multiply Link!c9 by -1 in the new cell.

Brian

Based on the number of times (even though it is a small number) that I have seen similar coding in Formulas, I would suspect that it is not an error, but perhaps a holdover from a previous generation of Excel that is no longer widely used. I have noticed the following:

• There are not enough instances available to me for me to make an reasonable assessment.
• The + seems to have no effect on the Changing the result of a Formula no matter what values I tested with.

I will be interested to find out what purpose the + serves (or used to serve?)

 

[boblarson]

I would post that question on the MrExcel forum.

 

[chergh]

It means whoever made that sheet had used lotus 1-2-3 in the past.

In lotus if you were adding cells together it would be:

+A1+A2

If you enter that into excel it would automatically become:

=+A1+A2

 

[Bilbo_Baggins_Esq]

I have frequently seen this used when the user is working in a country other than the US with a non-us keyboard.

On many non-us keyboards, the configuration is VERY different and the EQUAL sign is not in a normal location and on some, not even present at all.

A little know oddidity of Excel is that if you start typing a formula with a plus sign, (omitting the equal sign), Excel will automatically add the equal sign.

I have dug out an old comment from a Polish SE (working a Czech case) I received a long time ago when I inquired of him, why all the formulas started with +

"The “+” is very helpful with Czech, and potentially many other language, keyboards. The advantage is as you write – it has no impact to the result. But when you write formulas in Excel, you often need special characters present only on the EN keyboard. Unfortunately the “=” sign on the Czech keyboard is not on the same place, as with the US-keyboard. If you try to accustom writing formulas beginning with “=”, you would have many errors depending on actually switched keyboard. On the contrary the “+” sign is present on the numeric part of the standard keyboards, and is highly international, and when you start with “+”, Excel would automatically add “=”."

 

[Brianwarnock]

Thanks to all those who gave more knowledgeable answers than mine, and it must be noted that the original poster is located in Vietnam so some of these may well apply.

Brian

 

[Brianwarnock]

I wasn't aware ice was an issue in that region of the world

Well you are an American and it is overseas.

Brian

 

[lemo]

i occasionally use + instead of = when i type in simple numeric formulas (e.g. +123/12) because + can be found in the number pad section of the keyboard, whereas the = sign is in a different section. minor convenience..
US keyboard.
l

 

[ice_breaker]

Thanks for all responses. I think Lemo's answer is pretty good, just for convenience.