this works:

{=MEDIAN((Table1[MonthFinish]=201012)*(Table1[Days]))}

but if I put 201012 into cell A3, this doesn't done work:

{=MEDIAN((Table1[MonthFinish]=A3)*(Table1[Days]))}

when i do Evaluate Formula on the 2nd one...I see that there are double quotes about the 201012 that was pulled from A3...like so:

{=MEDIAN((Table1[MonthFinish]="201012")*(Table1[Days]))}

and as such, all the 201012s pulled from the MonthFinsh row come back as FALSE when compared to "201012" (ie, 201012="201012" ) where as they come back as TRUE when I hard code 201012 as it shows up as 201012=201012.

how do i get even to not put those quotes around the number?