Explanation
In Excel, dates are simply serial numbers.
Dates are valid through 9999, which is serial number 2,958,465.
This means that January 1, 2050 is the serial number 54,789.
In the example, the date is March 9, 2016, which is the serial number 42,438.
Without TODAY
Note: you don’t need to use the TODAY function.
The TODAY function takes no arguments.
you might format the value returned by TODAY with a datenumber format.
If you need current date and time, use…
