evaluating formula

I have a spreadsheet where I want to insert a specific
formula based on information in other columns in that row.
I have a lookup table from which I can retrieve the
formula to insert into the cell but the formula will not
evaluate. If I edit the cell and hit F9 to force the cell
to calculate I get the result of the lookup(the formula in
the table). If I hit F9 again I get the correct answer.
My question is how to I force Excel to calculate the
lookup and then when a formula is returned as a result of
the lookup calculate that formula.
For example
In the cell H16 I have:
="="&VLOOKUP(C16,Shape_Table,3,FALSE)
the result of the vlookup is:
=round(D16*E16*G16,2)and that is what is displayed in H16
What I want in h16 is the result of the formula returned.

"Jeff Rose" wrote in message
...
I have a spreadsheet where I want to insert a specific
formula based on information in other columns in that row.
I have a lookup table from which I can retrieve the
formula to insert into the cell but the formula will not
evaluate. If I edit the cell and hit F9 to force the cell
to calculate I get the result of the lookup(the formula in
the table). If I hit F9 again I get the correct answer.
My question is how to I force Excel to calculate the
lookup and then when a formula is returned as a result of
the lookup calculate that formula.
For example
In the cell H16 I have:
="="&VLOOKUP(C16,Shape_Table,3,FALSE)
the result of the vlookup is:
=round(D16*E16*G16,2)and that is what is displayed in H16
What I want in h16 is the result of the formula returned.

A formula is not just a text string. You are going about this completely the
wrong way!
You should have real formulas (not text strings) in your Shape_Table, so
that they evaluate and give results in that table. Your VLOOKUP formula can
then lookup the required one of these results from this table.