title: Date comparison not working in Excel formula
body: <p>If I put the date 31/12/2013 in A1 and another date 1/1/2014 in A2 then a formula like</p>
  
  <pre><code> =A1&lt;A2 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>gives the expected result, TRUE.</p>
  
  <p>If I put the formula </p>
  
  <pre><code>=A1&lt;1/1/2014 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>in another cell, it gives the result FALSE.</p>
  
  <p>The question is how to adjust the second formula to make it give the correct result, and why it doesn't work as it stands.</p>
  
  <p>I've been looking at this for a while and have found some related posts like </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21943600/excel-dates-not-comparing-correctly">Comparing computed dates with entered dates</a></p>
  
  <p>but not one which directly answers the question.</p>