Question

How to identify text as a numerical value in a simple sum formula?

Asked by: Ladkisson

Hello,

I need to perform a basic subtraction:  C1= A1-B1.  Column A has both numerical values and text.  What formula should I use that will recognize text as a number(or exclude it completely) and will give me a total value:  C20= sum(C1+C19)

thanks,

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Asked On
2009-10-28 at 07:50:08ID24851138
Tags

Microsoft Excel 2003

Topic

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: jkunreinPosted on 2009-10-28 at 07:51:58ID: 25683885

What do you want to happen if it is text?  I'm going to assume you want it to be blank.

So, I would have the formula for C1 be:
=IF(ISNUMBER(A1), A1 - B1, "")

 

by: saurabh726Posted on 2009-10-28 at 07:53:04ID: 25683897

Use this formula...

C1=(A1*1)-(B1*1)

C20=SUM(C1:C19)

Saurabh...

 

by: saurabh726Posted on 2009-10-28 at 07:53:52ID: 25683903

In my assumption it will convert there text values to number values and gives you a result and in jkunrein it will leave text values blank.

Saurabh...

 

by: jkunreinPosted on 2009-10-28 at 07:58:39ID: 25683958

Saurabh726 addresses numbers formatted as text, which I did not do (my formula ignores it entirely).

If you have a combination of numbers and actual text, then you can clean up the #VALUE entries by combining the two concepts:
=IF(ISERROR((A1*1)-(B1*1)), "", (A1*1) - (B1*1))

 

by: saurabh726Posted on 2009-10-28 at 08:01:13ID: 25683988

Jkunrein,

On other way, his column -A only has the value enter as text so he can basically use this formula to get a blank value which is this..

=if(isnumber(A1*1),(A1*1)-(B1*1),"")

Saurabh...

 

by: jkunreinPosted on 2009-10-28 at 08:06:04ID: 25684047

True, that is much cleaner. I'd expect nothing less from you. Guess we should see if the question has been fully answered now.

 

by: barryhoudiniPosted on 2009-10-28 at 08:08:50ID: 25684088

If you want to exclude any text you can just use this formula in C20 without needing formulas in C1:C19

=SUM(B1:B19)-SUM(A1:A19)

If you want any text that can be treated as a number to be treated as such then you can use this version

=SUM(IF(ISNUMBER(B1:B19+0),B1:B19)-IF(ISNUMBER(A1:A19+0),A1:A19))

This latter formula would need to be confirmed with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER

regards, barry

 

by: LadkissonPosted on 2009-10-28 at 10:06:36ID: 31646998

Thank you so much!!
I've tried every suggested formula but only yours gave me what I was looking for.  Maybe b/c I am using 03 version.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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