Re: [libreoffice-users] =IF Function

At 04:03 13/03/2013 -0700, J Taylor wrote:
> Using Mac 10.8.2 and Libre 4.0.1, I find that the IF function does 
> not place a blank space as the second option.

I think this is a little confused.  Do you mean that IF() appears not 
to be capable of having a null string (not a blank) as its third 
parameter?  I don't think your problem has much to do with the IF() 
function, in fact.

> Have I done something insanely stupid, or is this a bug?

Neither, I fancy.

> Where I should get blank cells I am getting:   #DIV/O!

This is an interesting paradox.  Your IF() test
=IF(Cn*100/Bn>0;Cn*100/Bn;"")
is designed to avoid dividing by zero if your substantive calculation 
would otherwise require this.  But the way you have framed the 
formula, you carry out the same calculation in the expression 
Cn*100/Bn>0 in an attempt to avoid the problem.  It is when 
performing that calculation that the error occurs, I think - before 
the IF() function gets its hands on the result.  The ">" comparison 
cannot be evaluated.

You need either to do the test in such a way that you do not need to 
do the impossible calculation or else to test for the error 
returned.  One easy way would be to use
=IF(N(Bn)=0;"";Cn*100/Bn)
This gets the test out of the way before attempting to carry out the 
calculation.  Note that if you used Bn=0 you may have a problem with 
any B cell not empty but containing a blank (as, for example, your 
B8); the N() function converts that blank to zero explicitly.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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