Spreadsheets have always given me concern. So many people use them but they don't double-check the numbers. Including the maker of the most commonly used spreadsheet available, Microsoft.

The math bug first surfaced Saturday on Microsoft's own Excel support newsgroup when a user named Molham Serry reported that when he multiplied 850 by 77.1, Excel 2007 returned 100,000 rather than the correct 65,535. Others on the newsgroup quickly took up the standard, eventually posting more than 120 messages to the thread. Among their findings: Other calculations claimed 100,000 was the correct answer.

In geekdom, 65,535 is a special number, i.e. 64k. This number and the number 32,767 (32k) have caused problems in the past (memory limitations, file size limitations, etc.). And here it is again. Geez.

A fix is available.