Date & time › DAYS68 / 144

Progress is saved on this device. Sign in or sign up free to keep it in your account.

MediumFreeDAYS

DAYS: days a library book is overdue

The library of a junior high school in Bogor charges a fine of Rp500 per day for books returned late. Mrs. Lestari, the librarian, records the due date and the date each book actually came back. Students who return a book early are, of course, not fined.

Task

Fill D2:D7 with the number of days late: the day difference from the due date (column B) to the return date (column C), using DAYS. If the book came back on time or early, the result must be 0 (not a negative number). Column E (fine) already has a formula and will fill in by itself.

Cells to fillD2:D7

Required functionsDAYS

Expected result

Loading the expected result…

Check answerCtrlShiftEnter
Fill downCtrlD
Previous / next exerciseAlt←→
Leave the workspaceEscTab

Hint 1
The argument order is DAYS(end_date, start_date): the later date comes first.
Hint 2
An early return gives a negative number. MAX(0, number) turns negatives into 0 and leaves positives alone.
Hint 3
Pattern: =MAX(0, DAYS(…, …)).

Reveal them one at a time. The last hint nearly gives the answer away.

Give it a try first. The solution unlocks automatically after your first check.

Answer

D2:D7

=MAX(0,DAYS(C2,B2))

Write it in D2, then fill down to D7.

Explanation

=MAX(0,DAYS(C2,B2)) takes the return date minus the due date. Galih's book came back 3 days early, so DAYS gives -3 and MAX turns it into 0. The most common mistake is swapping the arguments: DAYS(B2,C2) gives the opposite sign. =C2-B2 gives the same difference, but DAYS reads more clearly and converts date text into real dates automatically.

Starting worksheet: Sheet1
Row	A	B	C	D	E	G	H
1	Student	Due date	Returned on	Days late	Fine	Fine per day	500
2	Galih	14/09/2026	11/09/2026
3	Intan	14/09/2026	18/09/2026
4	Yoga	21/09/2026	21/09/2026
5	Laras	21/09/2026	02/10/2026
6	Rizky	28/09/2026	30/09/2026
7	Melati	05/10/2026	01/10/2026
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Fill in the requested cell, then press Check answer.

Validation result