Excel 2003 provides a great feature for working with formulas called the formula auditing toolbar. To display this toolbar, choose View->Toolbars, and then place a check by the Formula Auditing option in the toolbar menu. This toolbar can help you correct errors, and trace the cells that are referenced in a formula.

If you let your mouse pointer hover over each button on the toolbar, you will see a brief description of the button’s function. The buttons on the formula auditing toolbar are, from left to right:

·              1  the error checking button, used to find mistakes in formulas

·              2  the trace precedents button, which will display blue arrows to cells that supply data to the formula (arrows may be red if a supplying cell has an error)

·              3  the remove precedents button, which will remove precedent arrows

·              4  the trace dependants button, which will display arrows to the other cells that depend on a given cell’s data

·              5  the remove dependents button, will remove dependency arrows

·              6, the remove all arrows button, will remove both precedence and dependence arrows

·              7  the trace error button, will display arrows to the cells referenced in an incorrect formula.

·              8  the comment button, will allow you to add a comment to the selected cell

·              9 the invalid data button, will display circles around data that violates validation rules that you have set

·              10 the clear validation circles button, will remove validation circles

·              11 the watch window button, will invoke the watch window dialogue box

·              12 the evaluate formula button, will display a dialogue box that will help to evaluate and clarify the formula

The features on the auditing toolbar are also available by choosing Tools->Formula Auditing from the menu bar.

If you find that your formula just isn’t producing the correct results, try the formula auditing toolbar. The formula auditing toolbar can help you fix formula mistakes by, checking your worksheet for errors, tracing cell dependencies, and finding data validation problems.