datedatetimegoogle-sheetsdurationleap-year

Google sheets calculations for dates before 1900 - A possible solution


I am trying to do calculations without scripts. A solution can be to sum a far in the future date (31/12/9999) +1 and use that value to do calculations

Cell A1 = 1/2/1872 -> -10.194,00
Cell A2 = 31/12/9999 -> 2.958.465,00
Cell A3 = A1-A2+1 -> 2.948.270,00 -> 01/02/9972

I can adjust the year to a more confortable, year that is distant from edges (99999 and 1900) -> I use as offset 4000 which should preserve original leap year. A4: =DATE(YEAR(A3)-8100+4000;MONTH(A3);DAY(A3)) -> 01/02/5872

at this point I can use A4 to do most of calculations on dates and calculate back any adjusted date by using DATEVALUE()

This does of course take into consideration past dates that have issues with current official calentars; it seems that 19th century is ok. I haven't tested/ported it to Excel.

Does anybody confirm it works?


Solution

  • the logic of your formula may be correct, but more factors must be considered when playing with the calendar as humanity likes to adjust even the rules of adjustment. here are a few examples: