XL: Custom Function to Express Degree as Fractions of Degrees

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

Fractions of a degree are commonly expressed in units called minutes and seconds. One degree is equivalent to 60 minutes, and similarly, one minute equals 60 seconds. These units are most commonly used for expressing a navigational point such as a point on a nautical chart.

Although Microsoft Excel lacks a built-in number format to express these terms, this article contains a sample custom function you can use to convert a degree value (stored in decimal format, or base 10) to degrees, minutes, and seconds (stored in text format).

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

   ARTICLE-ID: Q73023
   TITLE     : Converting a Decimal Degree Value to Degrees, Minutes,
               Seconds

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Function Convert_Degree(Decimal_Deg) As Variant
       With Application
           'Set degree to Integer of Argument Passed
           Degrees = Int(Decimal_Deg)

           'Set minutes to 60 times the number to the right
           'of the decimal for the variable Decimal_Deg
           Minutes = (Decimal_Deg - Degrees) * 60

           'Set seconds to 60 times the number to the right of the
           'decimal for the variable Minute
           Seconds = Format(((Minutes - Int(Minutes)) * 60), "0")

           'Returns the Result of degree conversion
           '(for example, 10.46 = 10~ 27  ' 36")
           Convert_Degree = " " & Degrees & "~ " & Int(Minutes) & "' " _
               & Seconds + Chr(34)

       End With

   End Function

   =Convert_Degree(10.46)

REFERENCES

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications