Hi,
Assume you have hard coded numbers in range A1:A5. Now if you want to multiply all these numbers by 1.25, you can do the following:
1. Type 1.25 in any cell (say B1);
2. Press Ctrl+C on cell B1;
3. Go to Edit>Paste Special and select Multiply;
You will notice that all numbers woudl be multiplied by 1.25. However, you will notice that the entries in range A1;A5 would be replaced by the result of mumtiplication i.e. the original cell entries will be lost.
This is not somthing you may desire though. What you may want to do is show the origial cell entry even after multiplication i.e. show the multiplication operation in the cell such as =2*1.25.
To accomplish this, instead of typing 1.25 in cell B1, type =1.25. Now follow the procedure outlined above. You will notice that the cell entries in A1:A5 will show you the multiplication operation.
Please note that this trick (of =1.25) does not work in Excel 2007. This is s bug and i have intimated MS about this. I have tried using this in Excel 2003 and it works fine there. i assume it works fine in previous versions as well.
Hope you find this useful.