Error Terms

[Guest]

How can I get an error term, such as #DIV/0!, to display as just a zero? Thanks

 

[JE McGimpsey]

One way:

Instead of

=A1/B1

use

=IF(B1=0,0,A1/B1)

 

[Dave Peterson]

=if(iserror(yourformula),0,yourformula)

How can I get an error term, such as #DIV/0!, to display as just a zero? Thanks

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I really discourage using iserror - it ignores too many "unexpected"
errors (displaying a valid, but incorrect value - hmmm...where have we
heard about *that* lately??).

And since it calls fewer functions, this is actually more efficient:

=IF(yourdenominator=0, 0, yourformula)

 

[Dave Peterson]

On the other hand, =iserror() does help if either the numerator or denominator
cells contain text.

And personally, I think returning a 0 when the divisor is 0 is just another way
to hide an error (expected or unexpected).

==
I wasn't trying to sound too argumentative. I understand your point.

 

[Dave Peterson]

And just to add, I've found that my co-workers were much more interested in the
"prettiness" of the worksheet than the accuracy. <gd&r>