Excel 2003 - PRODUCT worksheet function and blank cells

[Guest3731]

I'm confused about PRODUCT in Excel 2003. If I put the cursor in cell
A3 and type =product(a1, a2), then put the numeric value "3" in cell
A2, the value of cell A3 becomes "3" as well. How would I go about
creating a formula for the A3 cell that will either error out, or
return the value "0" when it is asked to multiply a cell with a value
in it by an empty cell? I was quite surprised to find that Excel
works this way. Am I alone?

Thanks much -

 

[Bernie Deitrick]

1) Use =A1*A2

2) Enter 0 into cell A1. PRODUCT ignores blanks.

And hardly anybody I know uses PRODUCT to multiply two values - it is useful om other situations,
though.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

 

[Guest3731]

1) Use =A1*A2

2) Enter 0 into cell A1. PRODUCT ignores blanks.

And hardly anybody I know uses PRODUCT to multiply two values - it is useful om other situations,
though.

Thank you! I will just use the multiplication operator.