If you want the text "1/2" you should type '1/2

If you want the value one-half you should type =1/2

Not sure why this is controversial, Excel obviously has a syntax that's not focused on reproducing literal text.

You're not responding to the part where parent says the result is not 1/2 as in 0.5 but 2-Jan. The boobytrapped date parsing appears to be still happening even with "Automatic Data Conversions" disabled.

I understood that 1/2 converts to 2-Jan (or 1-Feb depending on settings).

That is desired behaviour. If you want the string 1/2 you need to use an apostrophe. If you want the fraction one half you need to use an equals sign. Both of these are vastly less likely to be what a user wants than the date interpretation, so it makes sense for that to be the default.

The parent posters discuss a menu option to turn off this automatic date parsing.