You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Numbers for Mac: Change to 2 Decimal Places

First time using Numbers and I am trying to change the column to display two decimal places.


I have gone to Format, Cell, and changed it to two decimal places. But instead of making the numbers two decimal places it has added it to the end instead of reducing it down.


For example, in the top cell, it originally showed 27.7222. It now shows 27.7222.99. It should show 27.72


I think that Apple needs to improve this program. Does anyone know how to get it to show two decimal places correctly?


MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jun 11, 2022 5:51 AM

Reply
7 replies

Jun 11, 2022 11:06 PM in response to Ralf-F

Good eye, and excellent explanation, Ralf-F.



Notes to John:

  • AVERAGE(CF:DF) will also return the average of the two values.
  • With two values to be averaged, and both values having two places after the decimal. you'll still require setting the Number format of the result cell to 2 places after the decimal to limit the result to that number of decimal places. See the results in rows 7 and 8 of the table below. Only cell D8 has the format settings shown applied.


Regards,

Barry




Jun 11, 2022 10:07 AM in response to john10001

Looking at the list of values in the Average Price column of your table, I see only three values that Numbers has recognized as 'numbers': 30, 21.90, and 25.98.


By default, Numbers aligns number values to the right side of the cell and text values to the left side. If you have not set an alignment that overrides the default behaviour, all of the values containing 2 dots are text, not numbers.


I've assumed the number values shown are 'correct' if the second . and digits following it are removed.

The Average price column in the image below shows a sample list of those values as they would appear before setting the number of decimal places to be displayed.

The column to the right contains the same values as the Average prices column. All cells in this column are set to display those values rounded to two plces after the decimal. The setting is shown in the cell pane of the Format inspector, to the right of the table.



Two questions:

What Region is set in System Preferences or for this document?

If you type this string of characters into a cell whose data format is "automatic", what is displayed?

1234567890

If you open the Format Inspector and click the checkbox for Thousands separator, what is displayed?


Regards,

Barry



Jun 11, 2022 7:58 AM in response to john10001

Sorry but I am confused with the data that you are showing here

Are you entering the dot in these values?

Numbers would never create a number like 13.9013.99 have you written this?

You should only add the . or , to separate the decimals where it is needed. The . or , is used based on the region / settings that you are in.

As soon as you write 13.9013.99 it will be used as a text and not a number!



Please set the format to automatically and see what happens.

Format dates, currency, and more in Numbers on iPad - Apple ...Official Apple Support › guide › numbers-ipad › ipados



Ralf


Jun 11, 2022 3:05 PM in response to Ralf-F

No, I did not write it like that.

As I mentioned in my original post

Cell F3 showed 27.7222

I was trying to format this to 2 decimal places so it would show 27.72

When I selected format, cell, change to number format, and selected 2 decimal places, it then changed it to 27.222.99 which is surely a fault with the Apple Numbers program?


The formula in Cell F3 is C3&D3 /2 to get an average of the two prices. C3 shows 27.72 and D3 shows 45.98 and the result of the formula gives the 27.7222 in cell F3.



Numbers for Mac: Change to 2 Decimal Places

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.