Why is the maximum row height in Excel 546px?












6















The maximum height of a single row in Excel 2003 is 546 pixels, or 409.5 points:



http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-specifications-and-limits-HP005199291.aspx



I'm curious as to why this number was chosen. The other limitations usually give hints into how they have historically been stored in memory. For example, the maximum number of columns and rows are 65536 (2^16) and 256 (2^8), respectively. I'm not aware of any significance of 546px or 409.5pt. Is there anything special about these numbers or is it purely random/cosmetic?










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  • 1





    I don't think a why on this can be answered. excel specs. You can overcome it by merging two cells.

    – Raystafarian
    Apr 18 '16 at 17:17
















6















The maximum height of a single row in Excel 2003 is 546 pixels, or 409.5 points:



http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-specifications-and-limits-HP005199291.aspx



I'm curious as to why this number was chosen. The other limitations usually give hints into how they have historically been stored in memory. For example, the maximum number of columns and rows are 65536 (2^16) and 256 (2^8), respectively. I'm not aware of any significance of 546px or 409.5pt. Is there anything special about these numbers or is it purely random/cosmetic?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    I don't think a why on this can be answered. excel specs. You can overcome it by merging two cells.

    – Raystafarian
    Apr 18 '16 at 17:17














6












6








6


1






The maximum height of a single row in Excel 2003 is 546 pixels, or 409.5 points:



http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-specifications-and-limits-HP005199291.aspx



I'm curious as to why this number was chosen. The other limitations usually give hints into how they have historically been stored in memory. For example, the maximum number of columns and rows are 65536 (2^16) and 256 (2^8), respectively. I'm not aware of any significance of 546px or 409.5pt. Is there anything special about these numbers or is it purely random/cosmetic?










share|improve this question
















The maximum height of a single row in Excel 2003 is 546 pixels, or 409.5 points:



http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-specifications-and-limits-HP005199291.aspx



I'm curious as to why this number was chosen. The other limitations usually give hints into how they have historically been stored in memory. For example, the maximum number of columns and rows are 65536 (2^16) and 256 (2^8), respectively. I'm not aware of any significance of 546px or 409.5pt. Is there anything special about these numbers or is it purely random/cosmetic?







microsoft-excel-2003






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edited Jul 8 '14 at 15:08









An Dorfer

1,2032713




1,2032713










asked Jul 8 '14 at 11:08









SnorfalorpagusSnorfalorpagus

13626




13626








  • 1





    I don't think a why on this can be answered. excel specs. You can overcome it by merging two cells.

    – Raystafarian
    Apr 18 '16 at 17:17














  • 1





    I don't think a why on this can be answered. excel specs. You can overcome it by merging two cells.

    – Raystafarian
    Apr 18 '16 at 17:17








1




1





I don't think a why on this can be answered. excel specs. You can overcome it by merging two cells.

– Raystafarian
Apr 18 '16 at 17:17





I don't think a why on this can be answered. excel specs. You can overcome it by merging two cells.

– Raystafarian
Apr 18 '16 at 17:17










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

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0














For the same reason as "640KB is more than enough for anyone!"?



I.e., they probably needed a limit for their view renderer and this was chosen arbitrarily but seemed "big enough" at the time.



By the way, 60 * 546 = 32,760 (8 pixels to spare) and 120 * 546 = 65520 (16 pixels to spare) so I suspect that was the arithmetic that drove that early choice.






share|improve this answer


























  • This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

    – bertieb
    Apr 26 '17 at 14:55






  • 1





    Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

    – Atlant Schmidt
    Apr 26 '17 at 15:01













  • I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

    – bertieb
    Apr 27 '17 at 12:24











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1 Answer
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0














For the same reason as "640KB is more than enough for anyone!"?



I.e., they probably needed a limit for their view renderer and this was chosen arbitrarily but seemed "big enough" at the time.



By the way, 60 * 546 = 32,760 (8 pixels to spare) and 120 * 546 = 65520 (16 pixels to spare) so I suspect that was the arithmetic that drove that early choice.






share|improve this answer


























  • This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

    – bertieb
    Apr 26 '17 at 14:55






  • 1





    Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

    – Atlant Schmidt
    Apr 26 '17 at 15:01













  • I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

    – bertieb
    Apr 27 '17 at 12:24
















0














For the same reason as "640KB is more than enough for anyone!"?



I.e., they probably needed a limit for their view renderer and this was chosen arbitrarily but seemed "big enough" at the time.



By the way, 60 * 546 = 32,760 (8 pixels to spare) and 120 * 546 = 65520 (16 pixels to spare) so I suspect that was the arithmetic that drove that early choice.






share|improve this answer


























  • This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

    – bertieb
    Apr 26 '17 at 14:55






  • 1





    Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

    – Atlant Schmidt
    Apr 26 '17 at 15:01













  • I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

    – bertieb
    Apr 27 '17 at 12:24














0












0








0







For the same reason as "640KB is more than enough for anyone!"?



I.e., they probably needed a limit for their view renderer and this was chosen arbitrarily but seemed "big enough" at the time.



By the way, 60 * 546 = 32,760 (8 pixels to spare) and 120 * 546 = 65520 (16 pixels to spare) so I suspect that was the arithmetic that drove that early choice.






share|improve this answer















For the same reason as "640KB is more than enough for anyone!"?



I.e., they probably needed a limit for their view renderer and this was chosen arbitrarily but seemed "big enough" at the time.



By the way, 60 * 546 = 32,760 (8 pixels to spare) and 120 * 546 = 65520 (16 pixels to spare) so I suspect that was the arithmetic that drove that early choice.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Apr 26 '17 at 14:57

























answered Apr 26 '17 at 14:53









Atlant SchmidtAtlant Schmidt

11




11













  • This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

    – bertieb
    Apr 26 '17 at 14:55






  • 1





    Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

    – Atlant Schmidt
    Apr 26 '17 at 15:01













  • I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

    – bertieb
    Apr 27 '17 at 12:24



















  • This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

    – bertieb
    Apr 26 '17 at 14:55






  • 1





    Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

    – Atlant Schmidt
    Apr 26 '17 at 15:01













  • I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

    – bertieb
    Apr 27 '17 at 12:24

















This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

– bertieb
Apr 26 '17 at 14:55





This seems like pure speculation- can you back it up?

– bertieb
Apr 26 '17 at 14:55




1




1





Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

– Atlant Schmidt
Apr 26 '17 at 15:01







Obviously it's just speculation but it's not uncommon for a viewport/pasteboard to have some sort of maximum dimension and a height of 32Ki or 64 Ki rows would be an entirely reasonable maximum. Given that, 546 divides all too conveniently into that value to produce 60 or 120 rows in the viewport.

– Atlant Schmidt
Apr 26 '17 at 15:01















I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

– bertieb
Apr 27 '17 at 12:24





I meant to reply here- now that there's a calculation that gives a reasonable account of (potentially) why, this is a better answer :)

– bertieb
Apr 27 '17 at 12:24


















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