Workday function question

[Spike]

I am slightly confused with the Workday function and would appreciate advice.
If I have paid someone to work 21 days (Monday to Fridays, weekends
(Saturday and Sunday) excluded, starting work on 1st February 2010 then I
would expect their last working day to be 1st March 2010.

Using the Workday function (not including holidays) then I get an answer of
2nd March 2010. As below
=WORKDAY(DATE(2010,2,1),21)

To get my required date then I have to put -1 at the end. Is this correct?

 

[Fred Smith]

Yes.

Date calculations exclude the starting day. If you tell someone you will see
them in 2 days, and today is Monday, they assume you mean you will see them
on Wednesday. But if you've worked each of those days, you've worked 3 days.

If you want to include the starting day, you need to adjust your calculation
by 1.

Regards,
Fred

 

[Mike H]

Hi,

To get my required date then I have to put -1 at the end. Is this correct?

No

The workday function excludes the start date so Excel is giving the correct
answer. Subtracting 1 'could' work but it could produce anomolies and have
the finish date as a Sunday. To make it effectively include the start date
you subtract 1 from that date and not from the formula result

=WORKDAY(DATE(2010,2,1)-1,21)

--
Mike

When competing hypotheses are otherwise equal, adopt the hypothesis that
introduces the fewest assumptions while still sufficiently answering the
question.