DAYS360---How come the days do not add up to be 360?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

butterscotch - 07 Mar 2008 16:36 GMT

I applied the DAYS360 function to each month of 2007, and the result is not
30 days for each month. In fact each 31-day month turned out to have an
output of 30 days, each 30-day month has an output of 29, and Feb has an
output of 27. It added up to 353 days for the year using each month's output.
However when I use 1/1/2007 and 12/31/2007 as my start and end date, the
function indeed gives 360 days. I am very perplexed. Could anyone help,
please???

Reply to this Message

Niek Otten - 07 Mar 2008 16:49 GMT

Your formulas, input and results please?

Signature

Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

|I applied the DAYS360 function to each month of 2007, and the result is not
| 30 days for each month. In fact each 31-day month turned out to have an
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
| function indeed gives 360 days. I am very perplexed. Could anyone help,
| please???

Reply to this Message

butterscotch - 07 Mar 2008 18:22 GMT

Hi Niek,
Here are my inputs and outputs:

Start date End Date Output = DAYS360(Start date, End date)
1/1/2007    1/31/2007    30
2/1/2007    2/28/2007    27
3/1/2007    3/31/2007    30
4/1/2007    4/30/2007    29
5/1/2007    5/31/2007    30
6/1/2007    6/30/2007    29
7/1/2007    7/31/2007    30
8/1/2007    8/31/2007    30
9/1/2007    9/30/2007    29
10/1/2007 10/31/2007    30
11/1/2007 11/30/2007    29
12/1/2007 12/31/2007 30
SUM 353
However:
1/1/2007    12/31/2007    360

Moreover, generating quarterly results
1/1/2007    3/31/2007    90
4/1/2007    6/30/2007    89
7/1/2007    9/30/2007    89
10/1/2007 12/31/2007 90

I am confused....

Thanks!

> Your formulas, input and results please?
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> | function indeed gives 360 days. I am very perplexed. Could anyone help,
> | please???

Reply to this Message

David Biddulph - 07 Mar 2008 18:35 GMT

You should have the dates as start 1st Jan end 1st Feb, then start 1st Feb
end 1st March, and so on. You've got a day's gap each month.

Signature

David Biddulph

> Hi Niek,
> Here are my inputs and outputs:
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
>> | function indeed gives 360 days. I am very perplexed. Could anyone help,
>> | please???

Reply to this Message

butterscotch - 07 Mar 2008 19:54 GMT

You are the best! Thank you David.

> You should have the dates as start 1st Jan end 1st Feb, then start 1st Feb
> end 1st March, and so on. You've got a day's gap each month.
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
> >> | function indeed gives 360 days. I am very perplexed. Could anyone help,
> >> | please???

Reply to this Message

Niek Otten - 07 Mar 2008 18:41 GMT

Your end dates are all one day early.

Take the following example:

Start date: 1-1-2008
End date: 1-1-2008

Days360 will return zero because not one day has (completely) passed.

If you change all your end dates to the first day of the next month, you'll get 30 days for each pair of dates, no matter what the
real duaration of that month is. So they'll total up to 360 as well.

Signature

Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

Reply to this Message

John Bundy - 07 Mar 2008 17:01 GMT

This function tells the number of days between 2 dates, so if you select Feb1
to feb29 you get 28 days. But this is over-ridden when you add more dates as
each is given 30 days. if you choose Feb 1 to Mar 1 you get 30 days.
for more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360-day_calendar

Signature

-John
Please rate when your question is answered to help us and others know what
is helpful.

> I applied the DAYS360 function to each month of 2007, and the result is not
> 30 days for each month. In fact each 31-day month turned out to have an
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> function indeed gives 360 days. I am very perplexed. Could anyone help,
> please???

Reply to this Message

butterscotch - 07 Mar 2008 19:56 GMT

Thank you all for your help. I greatly appreciate it!

Reply to this Message