In the example shown, the formula first divides the time stamp value in B5 by 86400, then adds the date value for the Unix Epoch, January 1, 1970. The formula evaluates like this: When C5 is formatted with the Excel date “d-mmm-yyyy”, the date is displayed as 1-Oct-2018.
How Excel tracks dates time
The Excel date system starts on January 1, 1900 and counts forward. The table below shows the numeric values associated with a few random dates: Notice the last date includes a time as well. Since one day equals 1, and one day equals 24 hours, time in Excel can represented as fractional values of 1, as shown in the table below. In order to see the value displayed as a time, a time format needs to be applied.
Dave Bruns
Hi - I’m Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.
