<html><head><title>Calculating With Dates and Times</title><meta name="filename" content="text/scalc/guide/calc_date"/><help:css-file-link xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><!--The CSS style header method for setting styles--><style type="text/css">
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<p class="Head1"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="11" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="dates; in cells" tag="kw68068_1" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="time; in cells" tag="kw68068_4" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="cells; time formats" tag="kw68068_3" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="cells; date formats" tag="kw68068_2" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:to-be-embedded Eid="calc_date" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"><help:link Id="68068">Calculating With Dates and Times</help:link></help:to-be-embedded></p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="12" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>In <help:productname xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help">%PRODUCTNAME</help:productname> Calc, you can <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>perform calculations with dates and times, since they are both taken from the internal clock of your computer. As an example, to find out exactly how old you are in seconds or hours, follow these steps:</p>
<p class="TableHead"><draw:image draw:name="Info0" svg:desc="Example calculation with days, hours, minutes, and seconds" svg:pixelx="484" svg:pixely="152" svg:width="12.801cm" svg:height="4.027cm" xlink:href="67225" draw:filter-name="" xmlns:draw="http://openoffice.org/2000/drawing" xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/></p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="13" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>In a spreadsheet, enter your birthday in cell A1.</p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="14" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Enter the following formula in cell A3: =NOW()-A1</p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="52" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>After pressing the Enter key you will see the result in date format. Since the result should show the difference between two dates as a number of days, you must format cell A3 as a number.</p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="53" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Place the cursor in cell A3, right-click to open a context menu and choose <span class="T1">Format Cells</span>.</p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="54" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>The <span class="T1">Format Cells</span> dialog appears. On the <span class="T1">Numbers</span> tab, the <span class="T1">Number</span> category will appear already highlighted. The format is set to "General", which causes the result of a calculation containing date entries to be displayed as a date. To display the result as a number, set the number format to "-1,234" <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>and close the dialog with the OK button.</p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="15" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>The number of days between today's date and the specified date is displayed in cell A3.</p>
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<p class="P2"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="16" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Experiment with some additional formulas: in A4 enter =A3*24 to calculate the hours, in A5 enter =A4*60 for the minutes, and in A6 enter =A5*60 for seconds. Press the Enter key after each formula.</p>
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<p class="Paragraph"><help:paragraphinfo state="U" number="17" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>The time since your date of birth will be calculated and displayed in the various units. The values are calculated as of the exact moment when you entered the last formula and pressed the Enter key. This value is not automatically updated, although "Now" continuously changes. In the <span class="T1">Tools</span> menu, the menu item <span class="T1">Cell Contents - AutoCalculate</span> is normally active; however, automatic calculation does not apply to the function NOW. This ensures that your computer is not solely occupied with updating the sheet.</p>
