Hi kat,
"In 2012 the town added a postion and the cost was 1500.00 (b7) This position did not exist in 2011 (c7). This resulted in a 100% increase to the budget."
Wrong.
An increase from zero budget to a budget of any amount cannot be expressed as a percent increase.
Any increase expressed as a percentage is expressed as a percentage of the starting amount.
Suppose the budget for this position for 2011 was 750.00.
100% of that amount is 750.00.
A 100% increase from the 2011 budget would then be the original budget (750.00) plus 100% of the original budget (750.00), and the new budget would be 1500.00.
But the 2011 budget for this position was 0.00.
100% of nothing is nothing.
A 100% increase is nothing plus nothing.
A 200% increase is nothing plus (nothing x 2).
A 1000% increase is nothing plus (nothing x 10)
"HMMM I am not sure I understand what you mean by "describe what you got"?"
I think a clearer expression would be "show how you got this result (235%). Copy the formula and paste it into your message. show the values that were in each of the cells referenced in the formula." Like Wayne, I'm mystified by this result.
"now that I know that 0 is not a defined value and is illegal."
0 is defined, and has been for centuries. 0 is not illegal. But division by 0 IS 'illegal' in the sense that it is not permitted in mathematics because its result is undefined. Simple example:
I have three halloween treats left in the bowl. Zero ( 0 ) children come to my door calling 'trick or treat.' If I share the treats equally among the children, how many must I give to each child so that I have no treats left over?
"I will just put in 100% in the cell and move on to other things."
Ummm... 'I don't understand this, so I'll just pull a number that 'looks right to me' out of the air, plug it in, and move on." How does putting a wrong value into your budget make the budget turn out right?
To your next topic/question:
" I am going to want this set up like so
b15-c15 goes into cell d15
b16-c16 goes into cell d16"
This works pretty much exactly as you've written it.
In D15, enter: =B15-C15
Grab the Fill control handle (small circle) and drag down two rows to fill the formula into D16 and D17.
Results will appear in each cell as the formula is filled into that cell.
Regards,
Barry