Why do Excel errors start with "#"

Dear All,

Now as a Computing teacher,I normally have the answers, however (and it may be a simple answer)but one student asked me "why does Excel use a "#" before an error e.g. #Value, #name - now I am NOT looking for how to solve these errors but more wondering why a # is used.

Best Wishes

The_Teacher

I'm a teacher, too, but not of Computing! My understanding is that the hash tag merely makes the result of the formula, if it equates to an error of some kind, stand out more: easier to spot in a large sheet of data.

Hi Ali,

Makes sense, I actually told my Year 7's to research it for homework, and I would as well (Idea being if I admit to not knowing something an finding an answer - they are more likely to believe me when I tell them something).

One of their answers was that a # is used as a way of commenting in some programming languages and since functions/formulas are like mini programs it uses it as a way of telling the user of an error.

I was just wondering why a #, rather than a ` or ~ instead.

It shows up better!