In Excel, formulas are a very important tool for calculating and generating data. However, sometimes we may encounter the problem of one or more formulas being referenced in a loop, which leads to incorrect calculation results in Excel or an infinite loop of calculations. In this case, we need to do something to solve this problem.
First, we need to find the formula that causes the circular reference. In order to find this formula, we can check each formula one by one and try to perform the calculation manually to see if there will be an infinite loop of calculations. Once we have found the formula that is causing the problem, here are a few things we can do to fix it.
Method 1: Change the order in which the formula is calculated.
We can solve the problem by changing the order in which the formulas are calculated. In Excel, the calculation order of the formulas is in the order of the cells from top to bottom. Therefore, we can change the calculation order of the formula by changing the order of the cells. Specifically, we can change the order of the referenced cells of the formula that is causing the problem to be calculated in left-to-right order, so that we can avoid the problem of circular references.
Method 2: Use functions to avoid circular references.
In addition to changing the order in which formulas are calculated, we can also use functions to avoid circular references. Specifically, we can use logical functions such as the if function or the and function to control the calculation process of the formula, thus avoiding the problem of circular references. For example, we can use the if function to tell if the value of a cell has been calculated, and if it has been calculated, it will not be calculated again, otherwise it will be calculated.
Method 3: Use VBA macros to avoid circular references.
If we can't solve the problem of circular referencing with the above two methods, we can also use VBA macros to avoid this problem. Specifically, we can use the Do While loop statement and timer function in the VBA macro to control the calculation process of the formula, so as to avoid the problem of circular reference. For example, we can use the timer function to record the current time, and compare the calculation time of each formula with the current time, and if the calculation time is too long, stop the calculation and prompt the user.
In a word, solving the problem of circular reference of one or more formulas in Excel requires us to take some measures. We can try to solve this problem by changing the order in which formulas are calculated, using functions to avoid circular references, or using VBA macros to avoid circular references. Which approach to take depends on our specific situation and needs.