converting text to numbers in Excel

I found a helpful trick in Microsoft's Excel help for converting text to numbers in a range of cells. Thought I'd pass it along.

1. Enter any number in a cell.
2. Copy it (Ctl-C).
3. Select the range that you want converted to numbers.
4. Select the menu options Edit, Paste Special.
5. Select "multiply" on the pop-up form.
6. The range you selected should now contain numbers, not text.
   

It's in Microsoft's help, but who looks there?