XL98: Calculated Field Returns Incorrect Grand Total

ID: Q186105

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In a PivotTable, Microsoft Excel may incorrectly calculate the grand total for a calculated field.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you use a calculated field (a field based on other fields) in a PivotTable, and the calculated field is defined by performing a higher order arithmetic operation, such as exponentiation, multiplication or division, on other fields in the PivotTable. For example, this problem occurs when you use a calculated field named Revenues that returns the multiple of the fields Units * Price. The individual items in the calculated field return the expected results; however, the grand total does not return the expected result for the calculated field.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

When a calculated field includes more than one field in the data range, Microsoft Excel computes the grand total for the sum of each component field, and then performs the arithmetic operation. For example, the following example PivotTable contains a calculated field named Revenue, which is defined as Price * Units.


    A1: Sum of Revenue  B1:           C1:         D1:
    A2: Product         B2: Units     C2: Price   D2: Total
    A3: Alpha           B3: 1         C3: 10      D3: 10
    A4:                 B4: 1 Total   C4:         D4: 10
    A5: Alpha Total     B5:           C5:         D5: 10
    A6: Bravo           B6: 2         C6: 11      D6: 22
    A7:                 B7: 2 Total   C7:         D7: 22
    A8: Bravo Total     B8:           C8:         D8: 22
    A9: Charlie         B9: 3         C9: 12      D9: 36
 
   A10:                B10: 3 Total  C10:        D10: 36
   A11: Charlie Total  B11:          C11:        D11: 36
   A12: Grand Total    B12:          C12:        D12: 198

The grand total of 198 does not equal the subtotals of 10+22+36, which is

Microsoft Excel computes the grand totals for the calculated field

Revenues as follows

SUM(Units)*SUM(Price)

or

SUM(1+2+3)*SUM(10+11+12)

which is 6*33=198. For additional information on using Calculated Fields, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q181219 XL98: Using PivotTable Calculated Fields and Calculated Items

REFERENCES

For more information about calculated fields, click Contents And Index on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in MS Excel Help, type the following text

PIVOTTABLES, calculated fields

and then click Show Topics. Select the "Create a calculated field in a PivotTable" topic, and click Go To. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

Additional query words: 97 XL97 calculation XL98

Keywords : kbdta xlpivot
Version : MACINTOSH:98
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbbug