The FORECAST, STEYX, SLOPE and INTERCEPT functions cause different results in Excel 2003 than in earlier versions of Excel

When you use the FORECAST, STEYX, SLOPE or INTERCEPT functions in a Microsoft Office Excel 2003 worksheet, you may receive different results than you did when you used these functions in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

This problem may occur if empty or blank cells are contained in the range of cells that are used for the FORECAST, STEYX, SLOPE or INTERCEPT functions.

How to obtain the hotfix

This problem is fixed in the Microsoft Office Excel 2003 hotfix package that is dated February 29, 2004.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

There is currently no work around or resolution to this problem.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article.

For more information about the FORECAST, STEYX, SLOPE or INTERCEPT functions, click Microsoft Office Excel Help on the Help menu, type slope or intercept in the Search for box in the Assistance pane, and then click Start searching to view the topic.