[Solved] Calc won't calculate (AutoCalculate=checked)

[TerryS24]

I created (with OO v4.1.15) what I think is a "simple" spreadsheet to:

1. List powers of 2 from 1-64
2. Calculate the decimal value of said powers (i.e. how many numbers can be represented in binary)

Formulas will not calculate no matter what I do! Furthermore, the formula does not display, either! It did before I formatted the cells to "Number", "General" and chose the "Cambria Math" font, though you had to click to see it because it number-cell contents were strangley auto-surrounded by extra padding).

So far I have:

1. Ensured the cells are formatted for "Number", "General".
2. Chose font "Cambria Math". (It shouldn't matter for simple integers, should it?)
3. Verified that "View > Cell contents > AutoCalculate" is checked (it already was).
4. Verified that "Tools > Options > OpenOffice Calc > View > Formulas" is un-checked (it already was).
5. Changed "Tools > Options > OpenOffice Calc > View > Value highlighting" to checked.
6. Tried pressing "F9" on my keyboard.
7. Tried clicking "View > Cell contents > Recalculate".
8. Used the Formula Wizard to ensure the formula is valid and the wizard displays correct results (it does).

but all to no avail!

The number cells display nothing, but if I click each cell I see the correct formula in the formula bar.

FYI, (text) headers are in A1-B1 (merged), A2 and B2. So my 64 rows are 3-66.
I handcoded A3 to: =1
I pasted into A4-A66 formula from wizard: =SUM($A3;1)
I verified (clicking cell and looking at formula bar) that other rows really got: =SUM($A5;1) ... =SUM($A66;1)
I pasted into B3-B66 formula from wizard: =POWER(2;$B3)
I verified that other rows really got: =POWER(2;$B4) ... =POWER(2;$B66)
So all the formulas got pasted correctly, using the proper row numbers. But nothing displays in cells.

This is straightforward, but I'll upload the file anyway.

[floris v]

Welcome to the forum. And a big thank you for providing the offending document right away.
The good news is, it works like a charm in AOO 4.1.11 and also in LibreOffice 24.2.

Edit: Forgot to add that I don't have Cambria math installed.

[TerryS24]

This seems to be a bug, then. Perhaps settings are being saved (I see they are) but not applied? Or not to existing documents?

[cwolan]

Doesn't work for me on Windows in any version (including 4.1.11).
Nothing seems to be displayed because of the font "Cambria Math".

Change the row height or the font and the values appear.
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rowHeight.png (59.12 KiB) Viewed 1150 times

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This seems to be a bug, then. Perhaps settings are being saved (I see they are) but not applied? Or not to existing documents?

Probably: Issue 112799 - Wrong font height for Cambria Math

[RoryOF]

Opened and worked for me with no problems using OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.3, with Cambria Math installed.

I was able to change the value in A3 and got immediate recalculation from that initial value.

[Zizi64]

Note:

The Calc will show the result of 2^64 as 18446744073709600000, but the correct result is 18446744073709551616.

The "Double precision floating point numbers" (what the spreadsheet softwares use) can not show precisely those huge integers. You must use some tricks for displaying a precise "result". The precision limit is about 15 digits (in decimal format).

[Alex1]

LibreOffice can handle positive numbers <= 2^53, and display positive numbers < 2^53 correctly. The power function is less precise than multiplication.
OpenOffice is less precise than LibreOffice.
C3: =B3-1
D3: 2
D4: =2*D3
E3: =D3-1
Fill down columns C-E and make them wide enough.

[TerryS24]

The Calc will show the result of 2^64 as 18446744073709600000, but the correct result is 18446744073709551616.

The "Double precision floating point numbers" (what the spreadsheet softwares use) can not show precisely those huge integers. You must use some tricks for displaying a precise "result". The precision limit is about 15 digits (in decimal format).

Thank you!

Forgot to mention: Solution was to change the font, mentioned by several people. (To grossly increase cell size as shown would have worked, too.) Calc sheet was created in OOo, have since switched to LO, will have to look into that later ... just wanted a PDF to play with python/pypdf/fpdf/qpdf etc.