Why are dates right aligned in Excel?

Dates and times are right aligned in Excel because the program converts them to numbers. Date numbering started on January 1, 1990 (that was day 1, Jan 2, 1990 day 2 and so on.) Time numbering starts at midnight. This numbering comes in handy when you wish to use date and time fields in calculations. For example: You can calculate a payroll spreadsheet by adding and subtracting dates.