When is a cell empty and how do I empty it.

  • Thread starter Thread starter C Brandt
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C Brandt

I ran across an interesting problem. I need to count the number of valid
entries and I simply used an IF statement to apply criteria to a column of
cells and copied only those I was interested in counting to the adjacent
column, then used COUNTA( ) to count them.
B12 is equal to =IF(and(A12 <MAX,A12>MIN,A12,"")
Didn't work. It counts the "" cells.
If I manually delete one of the "" entries in column B, it doesn't count it.
Is there a simple solution?

Thanks,

Craig
 
I ran across an interesting problem. I need to count the number of valid
entries and I simply used an IF statement to apply criteria to a column of
cells and copied only those I was interested in counting to the adjacent
column, then used COUNTA( ) to count them.
B12 is equal to =IF(and(A12 <MAX,A12>MIN,A12,"")
Didn't work. It counts the "" cells.
If I manually delete one of the "" entries in column B, it doesn't count it.
Is there a simple solution?

Thanks,

Craig
Click to expand...

Hi Craig,

One way would be to stop using "" and use something like "NO" instead,
then use COUNTIF(B:B,"NO").

Ken Johnson
 
Every once in a while, I stand back in amazement at solutions that end up
fixing a problem. This is one of those times.

Generally, I research the suggestions, learn something new and apply it to
my problem. Thanks to this group, I have been able to develop some pretty
neat spreadsheets that solve problems faced by the small group of people I
work with.

This solution, while it seems to work beautifully, I cannot, for the life of
me, figure out why or how it works.
Upon review, I viewed SUMPRODUCT as a shortcut to lots of multiplying and
adding, and saw little of value and could not understand how it applied to
my problem. I have learned to never disregard advice given in this forum and
therefore, simply pasted your formula in my spreadsheet with the necessary
address changes to fit, it worked. Why? I have no earthly idea!

Specific questions: What does the -- mean to the formula? What does the
<>"" do? and Since I thought that SUMPRODUCT multiplyed "Group A" against
"Group B" then added the answers for a single sum. The Data in the Range
given in the formula is text and I thought that SUMPRODUCT would treat it as
a ZERO.

With all this said: IT WORKED!

Is there a source of wisdom somewhere online that would help me out?

In your debt,
Craig
 
Craig,


this part


B2:B20<>""


translates to "does not equal blank" (regardless whether the blank is
derived from a totally empty cell or a formula that returns a null string)


and it will return an array of TRUE or FALSE depending on the cell
contents, like this

{FALSE;TRUE;FALSE;FALSE; and so on

where in this case cell number 2 (B3) holds a value that is not blank
returned from this formula

=IF(AND(A3 <MAX,A3>MIN,A3,"")

meaning that B3 holds whatever is in A3


so the formula could look like


=SUMPRODUCT(--({FALSE;TRUE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE}))

by either adding 0, multiplying with 1 or using a unary minus we coerce the
above array of TRUE or FALSE into 1s or 0s


=SUMPRODUCT({0;1;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0})

then SUMPRODUCT will sum those zeros and 1s and in this case return 1




Here's a link


http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/formulae/doubleneg.html





--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom
 
"I see" said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw....

SUMPRODUCT now has value. Significant value!

Thanks for your great explaination and link.

Have a wonderful week,
Craig
 
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