Future dates

Have you ever wondered on what day of the week your next birthday will fall? Look it up with Excel's Weekday function.

 Just type =WEEKDAY("mm/dd/yyyy") into any cell, and replace "mm/dd/yyyy" with the date you want to check, then press [Enter]. When you do, Excel will display a value between 1 and 7, inclusive. The number represents the day of the week for the date you entered. Days are numbered 1 for Sunday, 2 for Monday, 3 for Tuesday, and so on. So, if you want to know the day of the week for New Year's 2003, enter =WEEKDAY("1/1/2003").

But suppose you want to calculate how many days there are between today and some date in the future? Of course, you could calculate the number of days between the two by subtracting the earlier date from the later date, or you could let Excel do that for you.

Start by typing the future date into any cell. For example, create a new sheet and type the future date into A1.

The result is the number of days between the current date and the future date you entered. (If Excel formats the result as a date, select C1 and go to Format | Cells | Number and choose General or Number.)