herbaltea001-winter (4/22/2013)
Would it be true to say then, that an experienced Excel (or other spreadsheet) practitioner would be aware of the sources of error and be able to factor them into the calculation?
So, there are two types of error to account for:
1) Coding errors - where the user codes incorrectly
2) Computational error - where functions cause precision/rounding issues
For 1, there are many common issues and certainly someone experienced can put preventative steps, tests, and reconciliations in to prevent or uncover issues. For 2, it's doable to be able to highlight areas where imprecision can occur and giving a general error range, but quantifying the exact impact on the end calculation can be difficult without recourse to an outside system.