help with formula

[Guest]

How would you write a formula that subtracts qty in cell
c2,d3,e4,f5,g6,h7,I8 total rusults in J9

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Subtracts from what?

If you're subtracting all the other cells from C2, perhaps something
like:

J9: =SUM(C2,-D3,-E4,-F5,-G6,-H7,-I8)


or, more compactly:

J9: =-SUM(-C2,D3,E4,F5,G6,H7,I8)

 

[Dave Peterson]

Do you mean:

=-sum(c2,d3,e4,f5,g6,h7,I8)
or maybe:
=c2-sum(d3,e4,f5,g6,h7,I8)

 

[Guest]

Dave & JE -

Is there a benefit to using SUM() instead of +/- for non-contiguous cells?
You both recommended

=-sum(c2,d3,e4,f5,g6,h7,I8)

when, out of habit, I'd have used

=c2-d3-e4-f5-g6-h7-I8

Just curious

 

[Dave Peterson]

Just a personal preference for me--assuming that the values in those cells is
non-text.

But =sum() behaves differently when there is text in one of those cells.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

The advantage of using SUM is that it ignores non-numeric arguments.
When I develop apps for clients, I find that a large number of users
clear a cell using the spacebar. Using +/- operators give an error when
that occurs. One could use validation, but many clients don't want to
train themselves to use a different key.

The disadvantage of using SUM is that function calls are generally less
efficient than their corresponding math operations.