Dear Sir,

thanks very much for your the very detail instruction which I am still working on it.
I need some help in using Microsoft Excel to format rational number in the form a/b( not in reduced form :eg. 3/6 but Excel will return value either in reduced form 1/2 or .5).
What I intend to generate from the three columns of excel ( first column 'a' denotes the variable stands for numerator of fraction a/b and second column denoting denominator b)to get all the equivalent fraction of 1/2 ( eg.2/4,3/6,4/8.......) putting in the third column.
Thanks
Larry King

If you mean how to get a column or row to keep exactly what you type, not to convert it to something else (such as a reduced fraction or decimal), here's one way:

1. Highlight the column by clicking on the letter across the top.
2. Click on Format and then Cells.
3. Click on Text and then OK.

From then on, everything you type in that column will stay exactly as you typed it in the first place.

To do the same thing with rows, step 1 includes highlighting the row by clicking at the left on the number of the row you want.

A short cut to get a number to appear as text is to include a ' in front of the number as you type so

'1/2 appears as 1/2

1/2 often appears as 39845 as Excel interprets it is a date

DEar Writeacher/ Dr Russ,

Thanks very much for the answer but I have made a typo error in my question; it should be "Not in reduced form of the fraction that I wish to get but excel also always gives a/b in reduced form or in decimal form which is not what I wanted.
I am aware of the method given by Dr. Russ. Thanks. but what I wanted to make is a bit different; I intend to generatea/b by dragging down the first two rows from the three columns of excel ( first column 'a' denotes the variable stands for numerator of fraction a/b and second column denoting denominator b)to get all the equivalent fraction of 1/2 ( eg.2/4,3/6,4/8.......) putting in the third column.
Thanks
Larry King
eg.
a b a/b
1 2
2 4
3 6
4 8
5 10
6 12
7 14
8 16
9 18
10 20
11 22
12 24

Cannot get a/b using either of the two methods suggested.
Please help!
Thanks
Larry King

DEar Writeacher/ Dr Russ,

Thanks very much for the answer but I have made a typo error in my question; it should be "Not in reduced form of the fraction that I wish to get but excel also always gives a/b in reduced form or in decimal form which is not what I wanted.
I am aware of the method given by Dr. Russ. Thanks. but what I wanted to make is a bit different; I intend to generate a/b by dragging down the first two rows from the three columns of excel ( first column 'a' denotes the variable stands for numerator of fraction a/b and second column denoting denominator b)to get all the equivalent fraction of 1/2 ( eg.2/4,3/6,4/8.......) putting in the third column.
Thanks
Larry King
eg.
a b a/b
1 2 1/2
2 4 2/4
3 6 3/6
4 8 4/8
5 10 5/10
6
7
8
9
10

Dear Writeacher,

thanks for the reply:
Below is what I wish to get : following your suggestion I can get first two columns but getting the third which it should look like what is found in the 4th column is my difficulty. by mere typing in text format is not the problem. what i wish to get is to use the variable a and b and employing excel capability to get all the fraction by dragging down a/b. but i got not fraction,instead i get cells addresses. I hope you got I wanted.
thanks
Larry King
a b
1 2 =A2/C3 1/2
2 4 =A2/C4 2/4
3 6 =A2/C5 3/6
4 8 =A2/C6 4/8
5 10 =A2/C7 5/10
6 12 =A2/C8 6/12
7 14 =A2/C9 7/14

7

a b

1 2 =A2/C3 1/2
2 4 =A2/C4 2/4
3 6 =A2/C5 3/6
4 8 =A2/C6 4/8
5 10 =A2/C7 5/10
6 12 =A2/C8 6/12
7 14 =A2/C9 7/14

Dear Writeacher,
thanks for the reply:
Below is what I wish to get : following your suggestion I can get first two columns but getting the third which it should look like what is found in the 4th column is my difficulty. by mere typing in text format is not the problem. what i wish to get is to use the variable a and b and employing excel capability to get all the fraction by dragging down a/b. but i got not fraction,instead i get cells addresses. I hope you got I wanted.
thanks
Larry King

Dear Larry King,

I'm glad you found my previous instruction helpful. I'll be happy to assist you with formatting rational numbers in Microsoft Excel.

To achieve your goal of generating all the equivalent fractions of 1/2 (e.g., 2/4, 3/6, 4/8...) in the third column based on the numerator and denominator in the first two columns, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Set up your Excel spreadsheet with the three columns:
- Column A: Numerator (variable 'a')
- Column B: Denominator (variable 'b')
- Column C: Equivalent Fraction

Step 2: Enter the numerator and denominator for the first fraction (1/2) in columns A and B, respectively.

Step 3: In cell C1 (third column, first row), enter the formula to calculate the equivalent fraction:
`=A1/B1`

Step 4: Copy the formula from cell C1 to the rest of the cells in column C, corresponding to the rows you have data in columns A and B.

Here's how you can copy the formula:
- Select cell C1.
- Move your cursor to the bottom-right corner of cell C1 until it turns into a small plus sign (+).
- Click and drag the plus sign down to copy the formula to the other cells in column C.

Excel will automatically adjust the cell references in the formula as you copy it to different cells, ensuring the calculations are done correctly for each row.

Once you've completed these steps, you should have all the equivalent fractions of 1/2 generated in the third column as per your requirement.

If you need any further assistance or have additional questions, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,
Explain Bot