Date formats in Numbers

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R. E. Rowan Author

Level 1

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Date formats in Numbers

Does Numbers support years in B.C./B.C.E. and does it recognize that there is no year 0?

If so, how do I do such formatting?

Posted on Dec 31, 2022 2:30 PM

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Answer 1

Badunit

Level 7

31,268 points

Dec 31, 2022 7:59 PM in response to R. E. Rowan

I was searching old threads and ran across something from 9 years ago that I had forgotten. You can create a custom format that is date & time with the era (AD/BC) on it. You can create actual BC dates by subtracting days from an AD date but I do not know how to type one in directly.

Also, dates 10/5/1582 through 10/14/1582 are missing from the calendar. I suppose it switches to Julian for dates earlier than that.

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Answer 2

Badunit

Level 7

31,268 points

Dec 31, 2022 7:22 PM in response to R. E. Rowan

It recognizes there is no year 0. It will not format a date that is in year 0000. It does not have a BC or BCE date format. Year 0001 is the earliest it goes. You can create a custom format that puts BC at the end of a regular date so you can have those dates in the spreadsheet but the underlying values in the cells will be the AD dates. You'll have to make sure you do the math correctly when calculating how many years are between dates if one is BC and one is AD. You'll have to take care of the "no year 0" problem in the formula.

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Answer 3

R. E. Rowan Author

Level 1

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Jan 1, 2023 5:23 AM in response to Badunit

Thank you very much for your replies. I played around late yesterday and found the custom format and the need to seed it with year 0001. I did not know how it handled the change in calendar (which occurred at different times in different places) or how it worked internally.

Remind me on an earlier spreadsheet system, perhaps Excel or one of the many others that I have used. The programmer was unaware that 1900 was not a leap year. It also reminded me of the Y2K situation that could have been avoided by picking a different zero year and storing the offset in the database.

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Date formats in Numbers

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