Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Calculating an Age On a Given Date.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 10, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Alan is president of the local Little League baseball team, and he needs to know the ages of each child on May 1 of each year. He wonders if there is a formula that will return the age on that day.
There are actually a couple of ways you can approach the task. Assuming that the child's birth date is in cell A1, you could use the following formula in most instances:
=(DATE(YEAR(NOW()),5,1)-A1)/365.25
This formula calculates the date serial number (used by Excel internally) for May 1 in the current year. It then subtracts the birth date in A1 from that serial number. This results in the number of days between the two dates. This is then divided by 365.25, an approximate number of days in each year.
For most birth dates, this formula will work fine. If you want something more precise (the imprecision is introduced by the way in which leap days occur), then you can rely on the DATEDIF function in your formula:
=DATEDIF(A1,"5/1/" & YEAR(NOW()),"y")
This returns the age of the person as of May 1 of the current year. If you want even more detail in the results, try this formula:
=DATEDIF(A1,"5/1/" & YEAR(TODAY()),"y") & " years, " & DATEDIF(A1,"5/1/" & YEAR(TODAY()),"ym") & " months, " & DATEDIF(A1,"5/1/" & YEAR(TODAY()),"md") & " days"
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (5415) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Calculating an Age On a Given Date.
Save Time and Supercharge Excel! Automate virtually any routine task and save yourself hours, days, maybe even weeks. Then, learn how to make Excel do things you thought were simply impossible! Mastering advanced Excel macros has never been easier. Check out Excel 2010 VBA and Macros today!
Calculating an age is a common task when working with dates. If you want to figure out the number of years and months ...
Discover MoreWant to know which day of the month is the first business day? There are a few ways you can check to make sure the date ...
Discover MoreIt is no secret that Excel allows you to work with dates in your worksheets. Getting your information into a format that ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2024 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments